Table of Contents

Chapter 1
Urban China and Urban Transport Development................................................1
1.1
Urban Civilization.......................................................................................................1
1.2
Past, Present and Future of Urban Civilization..........................................................2
1.3
Urbanization Process in China....................................................................................4
1.4
Urban Transportation Development in China.............................................................6
1.5
Mutual Influence and Acceleration between Urban Transport and Urbanization
Process 10
1.6
International Perspectives on Urban Transport Development..................................12
1.7
Summary...................................................................................................................15
Chapter 2
Challenges and Opportunities Facing China's Urban Transport......................17
2.1
Chinas Urbanization Development Trend...............................................................17
2.2
Challenges and opportunities facing Chinas Urban Transport................................18
2.3
China's future urban transport development opportunities......................................22
2.4
Summary...................................................................................................................25
Chapter 3
Impact Factors and Implementation Approaches to China's Sustainable
Urban Mobility................................................................................................................................26
3.1
World Sustainable Mobility Study Overview...........................................................26
3.2
Definition and explanation of China's sustainable urban mobility..........................27
3.3
China's prospects for sustainable urban transport development..............................28
3.4
Objectives of Sustainable urban mobility development...........................................30
3.5
Major impact factors of Sustainable urban mobility................................................30
3.6
Approaches and steps to realize sustainable urban transport...................................33
3.7
Summary...................................................................................................................34
Chapter 4
Metropolitan Area and Regional Transport System...........................................36
4.1
History and Status of Metropolitan Area Development...........................................36
4.2
Basic Development Patterns for Metropolitan area and Regional Sustainable
Transport System......................................................................................................................37
4.3
Development and Sustainable Mobility in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Metropolitan Area
39
4.4
Conclusion................................................................................................................46
Chapter 5
Balanced Urban Development and Urban Transportation Planning................47
5.1
Overview of the Present Urban Planning in China..................................................47
5.2
Introduction to current urban transportation planning.............................................49
5.3
Experience of Developed Countries in Promoting the Balanced Development of
Land Use and Transportation....................................................................................................51
5.4
Implementation and Administration mechanism of balanced development of Land
Use and Transportation in Beijing............................................................................................53
5.5
New Technologies and Methods on Realizing a Harmonious Urban Spatial
Development.............................................................................................................................71
5.6
Model Analysis on Harmonious Urban Spatial Development.................................85
5.7
Thoughts and Methods on the Planning of Harmonious Land Use and Urban

mobility Development..............................................................................................................92
5.8
Application of Planning Information System for a Harmonious Development of
Urban Mobility and Land Use..................................................................................................95
5.9
Conclusion................................................................................................................99
Chapter 6
Underground Space Utilization and Urban Traffic Problem...........................103
6.1
Significance of Underground Space Utilization and Urban Transport 3-D
Development...........................................................................................................................103
6.2
Examples & Experiences from Urban Underground Use in the World.................108
6.3
Transport Functions of Urban Underground Space................................................120
6.4
Interaction between Underground Space Use and Urban Transport......................124
6.5
Planning for Urban Underground Transport System..............................................127
6.6
Progress of Worlds Urban Underground Freight Transit System (UFTS) &
Underground Logistics System (ULS)...................................................................................131
6.7
Problems and Directions of Urban Underground Transport System in China.......135
6.8
Conclusion..............................................................................................................137
Chapter 7
Urban Sustainable Mobility and Transportation Demand Management.......140
7.1
Introduction.............................................................................................................140
7.2
Travel demand mechanism.....................................................................................140
7.3
Framework of TDM................................................................................................141
7.4
Land use strategy and TDM....................................................................................143
7.5
Congestion toll and TDM.......................................................................................145
7.6
Information technology and TDM..........................................................................153
7.7
TDM practice in China...........................................................................................155
7.8
Conclusions and suggestions..................................................................................159
Chapter 8
Theory and Methodology in Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning...............161
8.1
Theoretical Framework for Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning........................161
8.2
Theory and planning methods based on transportation accessibility.....................165
8.3
Integrated urban and transportation planning.........................................................175
8.4
Transit-Oriented Development (TOD)...................................................................177
8.5
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Planning Research Guide..............................................191
8.6
Summary.................................................................................................................203
Chapter 9
Realization Mechanisms and Policies for Public Transport Priority..............206
9.1
Public transport priority..........................................................................................206
9.2
Market demand model on urban public transport: residents trip interaction and
decision making......................................................................................................................207
9.3
Supply-side incentive mechanism..........................................................................227
9.4
Policies and their influence.....................................................................................246
9.6
Policy Recommendations.......................................................................................262
Chapter 10 Energy Development for Urban Sustainable Mobility.....................................266
10.1
Introduction.............................................................................................................266
10.2
The overall energy status of China.........................................................................267
10.3
The fundamentals of sustainable transport energy development...........................285
10.4
Development trend of transport energy..................................................................288
10.5
Optimization methodology of urban transport energy supply...............................294

10.6
Conclusion..............................................................................................................312
Chapter 11 Urban Sustainable Transportation and Environment Impact Evaluation.....316
11.1
Overview of Environment Impact on Urban Transportation.................................316
11.2
Current Environment Issues on Urban Transportation...........................................316
11.3
Research Approaches to Evaluate Influence of Urban Traffic on Environment....324
11.4
Case study...............................................................................................................343
11.5
Summary.................................................................................................................352
Chapter 12 Impact of Automobile Technology on Urban Traffic........................................355
12.1
Introduction.............................................................................................................355
12.2
Development of the automobiles in China cities....................................................355
12.3
Development of energy saving and clean fuel for urban transport........................365
12.4
Ways to energy-saving and emission reduction.....................................................381
12.5
Conclusion..............................................................................................................389
Chapter 13 Performance Measures for Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning.................392
13.1
Objectives and principles of sustainable urban mobility planning........................392
13.2
Literature reviews on performance measures of sustainable urban mobility.........393
13.3
Indicators for sustainable urban mobility system...................................................395
13.4
Evaluation of sustainable urban mobility...............................................................397
13.5
Application and case studies...................................................................................401
13.6
Conclusions.............................................................................................................404
Additional Chapter A Treasury of Expert Viewpoints...........................................................406
Milestones of SUMO Project........................................................................................................420

Chapter 1 Urban

China

and

Urban

Transport

Development
1.1 Urban Civilization
City is an advanced form of humans social life. It is the outcome and the symbol of humans
civilization, functions as the center for social communications. It is also the very place where
different cultures converge and symphonize with one another, which manifest itself as the
milestone of humans endeavor towards a more mature, more civilized development period.
City is an essential component of humans civilization that is developed in accordance with
the advancement of humans civilization. According to discoveries made by archaeologists, the
earliest humans activities emerged in a city dated back to around 10,000 years, although human
has a history of more than 2 million years. Thus in term of time span, urban civilization plays a
minor role as opposed to the length of humans history, but the existence of the very first city on
earth is definitely a vital turning point of humans civilization.
In the long period of the primitive society, human relies heavily on natural resource
collection and gradually forms a relatively stable working force so called primitive community
in the matriarchal society. As the productivity keeps on developing, division of labor is of
necessity: agriculture and animal husbandry first dissociate themselves from the primitive
productivity. It is the first significant emergence of job division in human history and agriculture
becomes the main mode of production. People need to cultivate crops on lands where water is
accessible. In this sense the very first group of farmers settle down and form stable population
centers. As productivity further develops, people begin to have extra products and as a result lay
the basis for the exchange of goods. Specialized traders gradually appear, in the meanwhile also
appeared are the specialized handicraftsmen as the demand of life diversifies and the social jobs
further divided. Handicraft industry and commerce begin to dissociate them from agriculture,
which is now called the second most significant division of job in human history. The former
population centers develop gradually into two different types: villages that mainly do the
traditional agricultural production and cities where emerging commerce and handicrafts are of the
main function. In this sense, it is presumable to conclude that human settle down for the need of
agriculture, but the appearance and burgeoning of cities and the expansion of urban culture dates
back from the second most significant division of job in human history, namely, the transitional
period from primitive society to slavery society (Li Dehua, 2001) .
The mergence, development and construction of cities are closely related to their natural
surroundings. Human learns to adapt to nature by approaching good and avoiding bad. Among
many factors that affect the development of city, water is the most significant one. On the one
hand, water is a primary need for agriculture and the prerequisite for human existence; on the
other hand, floods must be prevented, for this reason most of the ancient cities were built near
rivers or lakes, and mostly on the banks that face the sun. The area long middle and down stream

of Yellow River in China, the Nile River in Egypt, and the Mesopotamia in western Asia used to
be advanced in agriculture. And also in these areas emerged the earliest cities in human history.
Apart from the continental cultures rising from agriculture, the other prosperous cities rose from
their prominent geographical situations and favorable harbor conditions were also birth places for
marine culture.
Fast development of cities depends on the industry and economy level. In the ancient feudal
society of China, many commercial metropolises were developed in places where commerce was
prosperous and handicraft industry was concentrated. These metropolises would continue its
prosperity for a relatively long period: despite damages during war time, the city survived would
soon revive again, like Suzhou, Yangzhou, Guangzhou, Chengdu etc, for example. In a similar
way, other Mediterranean cities like Milan, Venice, Paris etc, were also important commercial and
trade centers. After the industry revolution, the process of urbanization was greatly propelled.
Farmers kept on migrating into new industrialized city, and cities experienced a growing speed
that had never been anticipated before. Until the eve of the 1st World War, western countries like
Britain, America, Germany and France had reached a relatively high level of urbanization. It is not
only a sign of prosperity, but also of a sign of civilization.
However, while creating immense prosperity, city also brings problems. The Industry
Revolution broke up the balance among cities and countryside formed in the agriculture
civilization. When large population crowded into the city, the facilities soon became insufficient,
for example, housing, water supply, drainage utilities, traffic capacity, and other available
resources. The wide usage of motor cars resulted in an unexpected expansion of urban areas.
Cities become more congested, more resource consuming, and have more environmental pollution
problems. In this sense, the unconstrained fast urban development will obstruct the development
of human well-being.

1.2 Past, Present and Future of Urban Civilization

Since the 19th Century, the urbanization trend has swept the western countries even the whole
world. Human began to get into the industrial era and urbanization became an international trend
which was both extensive and profound. Fig 1.1 presents the development situation of world
population. As indicated in the chart from the beginning of the 19 th Century to 2007, world
population has increase by 6.8 times while the urban population has augmented by more than 66
times. The development speed was shown to accelerate from year to year.

Source: Zhou Yixing, 1995; United Nations Human Settlements Programme UN-HABITAT, 2007

Figure 1.1 World Population Development since the 19th Century

The relationship between city and the development of human society can be interpreted in the
two following ways: on the one hand, the development of cities promoted the development of
society, because city amasses not only the material possessions but also the spiritual values. As the
urbanization kept on expending, great achievements were made in social, scientific, cultural and
art fields. On the other hand, fast industrialization also brought about pollution, poverty, crimes,
congestion and many other urban diseases. Human paid huge expenses in eliminating these
problems.
While reviewing the advantages and disadvantages associated with urban development,
human should learn from the past and look forward to the future.
Firstly, the mergence and development of city is promoted by the growing industry and
commerce. The development of commerce and trade greatly promoted social properties, and
therefore pushed forward the development of urban civilization.
Secondly, driven by economic incentives, the Industrial Revolution resulted in the rapid
development of cities also lead to pollution, poverty, crimes, congestion, ecological deterioration
etc. In general, the industrialization brought about benefits as well as damages to the human living
environment.
At present, the ecological crisis has aroused the worldwide concern on environmental
sustainability. In the choice between industrialization and human well-being, the latter is
undoubtedly the priority. Human began to reflect the relationship between itself and nature. More
attention has been paid to the well-balanced sustainable development and the development of ecocity.
In the future, as further development of urban and human achieved, cities will reach a higher
state of civilization where material and spiritual cultures are better coordinated.

1.3 Urbanization Process in China

Urbanization is an important development progress towards human society and, in China, the
development of cities can be dated back to more than 5,000 years ago and for a long period of
time, this country was in the lead in the world with its urban development. After the Opium War of
1840, modernized cities with colonial and semi-colonial property appeared in coastal areas. After
the Peoples Republic of China was founded in 1949, driven by rapid social and economic growth,
it has accomplished outstanding achievements in both industrialization and urbanization.
The urbanization process in China since 1949 can be roughly divided into following stages
(Figure 1.2, 1.3, 1.4).
(1) The initial stage of urbanization (1949-1957): with the national economy gradually
recovered and the successful accomplished first Five-Year-Plan, Chinese economy advanced
greatly and urbanization rate increased steadily from 10.64% in 1949 to 15.39% in 1957. During
this period of time, both urban development and urban population growth are basically in
accordance with economic growth.
(2) The stage of fluctuation (1958-1965): since late 1950s, China started to focus on rapid
economic growth and its urbanization during this period of time features big ups and downs.
During the Great Leap Forward period in 1958-1960, industrialization was in a rapid growth but
without the supporting agricultural basis, which leads to a large amount of rural population
relocated into cities, and the urbanization rate quickly reached 19.75%; 1961-1963 witnessed a
period of adjustment and the urbanization rate dropped sharply to 16.84%; then during 1964-1965,
as a result of economy recovery, urbanization rate also started to increase.
(3) The stage of stagnancy (1966-1978): after the middle 1960s, with the gradual unfolding
of the Cultural Revolution and a series of big mistakes made in both policy and economy
decisions, the urbanization stopped growing and dropped to 17.92% in 1978.
(4) The stage of recovery (1979-1992): after the Third Meeting of the 11th Session of CPC
successfully held, the focus was shifted to built a socialist modernization centering on economic
growth, since then urbanization got on a normal development track and improved to 27.46%
during this period of time.
(5) The stage of acceleration (1993 to present): after the tour made by Deng Xiaoping to
South China in 1992 and the decision made by the CPC to adopt socialist market-oriented
economic system in China, the economy grew rapidly, system reform was launched in an
extensive scope, and the process of opening-up was also accelerated, resulting in the continuous,
steady and rapid growth of urbanization, with an increase in acceleration rate of 27.99% in 1993 to
44.94% in 2007.

Source: China Statistics Yearbook by National Bureau of Statistics of China

Figure 1.2 Urban Population in China during 1949-2007

Source: China Statistics Yearbook by National Bureau of Statistics of China

Figure 1.3 Total Number of Cities in China during 1949-2007

Source: China Statistics Yearbook by National Bureau of Statistics of China

Figure 1.4 Urbanization Rate in China during 1949-2007

1.4 Urban Transportation Development in China

1.4.1 Transportation in Ancient Cities
1.4.1.1 Impact of Transportation Choices on Urban Development
Ancient China mainly depended on two types of transportation means: the surface transportation
and the waterway transportation. Cities were connected primarily by post roads or water carriage
routes. As accessibility was a key factor in forming new cities, the locations near ports and hubs
with good accessibility were chosen as the development sites for cities. For example, on the river
bank of the Yangtze River, there existed many old towns that gradually grew into big cities such as
Chongqing and Wuhan. Another example is city Zhumadian in Henan Province, which was
developed from an ancient post station. In this case, the ease of access to ground and water
transportation played a key role in the location selection and development of ancient cities.
In ancient time, the means of transportation within cities is mainly on foot, as well as animaldrawn cart. The scale of urban area is restrained by the walking distance with a radius less than 4
km, in order to ensure that urban residents can walk from the city centre to the edge within an hour
(Zhang Hongen, 2007). As the ancient city has a relatively low level of economic activity, the top
occupancy of urban residents are handicraft and retails around the urban centers The ancient cities

are typically in small scales, with compacted form, and with development concentrated in the
urban center.

1.4.1.2 Urban Transportation System in Ancient China

In ancient China, the city is an area concentrated with non-agricultural population and industries,
as well as troops, and is usually the region's center of policy, economy, transportation and culture.
These functions require guidelines in terms of city planning, construction and the development,
and these guidelines gradually formed as the preliminary urban planning theory.
According to the history, the urban transportation in ancient cities can be traced back to the
Shang and Zhou Dynasties. "ZHOU JI" gave the description of a five-category road division
system in terms of Jing, Zhen, Tu, Dao, Lu (), which is the earliest form of the
gridiron road system. During this period, trips were mainly made by walking and animal-drawn
carts.
Since the Zhou Dynasty, the urban transportation planning of the capital had been integrated
with the strict concept of the feudal hierarchy. Urban roads were divided into five levels:
longitudinal arterial, latitudinal arterial, collector,, local major and local minor. The longitudinal
and latitudinal arterial divided the city into nine parts, which is called Li ( ). Among all the Lis,
the middle one is the city of emperors. The collectors divided each Li into 6-9 cells, each called
Lvli ( ), isolated by walls. Local major and minor were the connecting roads in each Lvli.
Differently local major can accommodate horse-drawn carts, while local minor is exclusively used
for walking. The citizens houses were built along the sub-laneway. The external transportation
was served by ring roads surrounding the city, mainly for military purposes.
In Qin and Han Dynasty, urban road layout was still using the gridiron system derived from
precedent dynasties. To the North and the South Wei period, the urban structure experienced a
major adjustment. Palaces were placed on the north of the longitudinal axis. As a result, the
imperial area became separate from civilians. During the Sui and the Tang Dynasties when the
feudal system were in its peak, the imperial wanted to boast their power, prosperity and dignity,
and emphasized on the function of the longitudinal and latitudinal arterial by widening the road. It
influenced considerably on the planning for the road system hereafter.
During the North Song Dynasty, the urban handicraft industry and commercial economy
experienced rapid development. The traditional gridiron system was substituted by a new system.
Taking the road system of Bianliang, the eastern capital of the North Song Dynasty as an example:
the three-leg intersections and diagonal roads were added into the gridiron road network; the roads
in business area were mainly for life and trade; the business area was integrated with ports and
transportation hubs. The layout of the Northern Song Dynastys eastern capital, namely Bianliang,
has a great influence on the planning of capitals in the Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.
During the Ming and the Qing Dynasties, a series of magnificent buildings were constructed
along the arterial roads, and secondary roads were planned to join arterial ones at T-crossings.
Also, traffic signs were set up along the urban arterial road intersections. As to Beijing, the Grand
Canal, connected with the Tonghui River, was the main corridor for freight transportation. The
layout of roads and streets was influenced by the running way of the canal.

Besides capitals, other cities in ancient China generally followed guidelines of the gridiron
road layout. Exceptionally, the road network in cities on the south of the Yangtze River was
affected by the advanced waterway network, which was the main circulation system in the cities.
In those cities, the roads along the rivers only served for short distant walk.
In summary, the road network layout in ancient cities was dominated by gridiron system.
Correspondently, cities were formed in an orderly and compact style.

1.4.2 Recent Urban Transport System

Modern history of urban transportation in China is along with the history of semi-colonial, semifeudal society. The advanced transportation tools such as trains and steamships were introduced
into China after the Opium War, and impacted profoundly on transportation system of the time.
After the Opium War, China was forced to open Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo,
Shanghai, and then gradually opened a number of cities along the coastal and river banks as
trading ports. The shared advantages of these cities are the desirable harbor conditions that
stimulated the rapid development of waterway transport. The development of shipping promoted
the rapid development of coastal cities along the Yangtze River, such as Yangzhou, Zhenjiang
along the Grand Canal and Xiangtan, Xiangyang in central China. The introduction of railway also
had a profound impact on the development of Chinese cities, such as Xuzhou, which survived in
the loss of its advantage in water transportation The new routes of ships and railways furthered the
reform in transportation mode share and changes in transportation corridors, which will inevitably
cause changes in the structure of regional cities and towns.
As to the development of urban transportation, Shanghai, Xiamen, Dalian and other cities
used to be the trading ports, and the transportation system in these cities were different from the
other cities due to the existence of foreign settlements. New modes of transportation appeared in
the foreign settlements, had changed the transportation mode structure. Taking Shanghai for
example, trains with designated rails started as a mode for public transportation there from 1908,
and then the cars were used. As the introduction of new modes, new roads pavement and road
network planning had brought about a significant impact upon the structure of modern Chinese
cities. For example, the road network construction in Dalian City started in 1889 when the Russian
started to build the Dalian Port; in the meantime, they also proceeded with urban construction, and
then constructed the radial road network with Zhongshan Square, Friendship Square and five other
Squares.
Compared to the rapid development of road network in the settlement areas, the development
of non-settlement areas was relatively slow. Taking Shanghai as an example, the roads in the nonsettlement areas in the 19th century were quite narrow. While in the early 20th century,
construction of new roads just started. After the foundation of the Peoples Republic of China, the
construction of road network has been in rapid development, and gradually formed a new road
network.
In short, China's modern urban transportation is a turning point in the history of urban
transportation development. More efforts should be directed to the connection between ancient
tradition and future trend, because it provides the basis for future planning.

1.4.3 Development Trend of Modern Urban Transportation System

China started the development of modern transport since the reorganization and opening up. Along
with the rapid socio-economic development, the urban transport modes, road transport
infrastructures and travel behaviors have experienced significant changes.
(1) The development of transportation mode and mode split
Since 1978 the possession of motor vehicles has a continuing high growth rate, according to
the data from National Bureau of Statistics, the average civilian vehicle ownership in the period
1978-2007 experienced an annual growth rate up to 21%; ownership of private vehicles gradually
increases with an average increase rate of 32% between 2000 and 2007. These statistics show that:
China's urban transport is already in a rapid motorization process.
There has been a slow development in public transport in aspects such as the number of
vehicles in operation, route line mileage, and passenger volume. However, different from the
western developed countries where public transport has experienced the climax, public transport
in China is growing towards the climax. Until 2007, China has 10 cities equipped with a rail
transit system, and the total mileage has reached 602 km. Now both the vehicle operation and the
operational mileage experience a substantial growth every year. The number of buses in 2006
increased by 17.42% as opposed to that of 2004, the passenger volume has also increased by 51.03
percent (Qiu Baoxing, 2007).
(2) The development of road transport infrastructure
In order to satisfy the needs of urban economic development and to meet the rapidly
increasing traffic demand, the Department of Urban Construction has funded considerablely for
urban transport system planning and construction. Share of urban transport infrastructure
investment in the city's budget continues to increase. Despite of the fast growth of urban road
network expansion and the increasing road coverage area and the temporary relief of traffic
congestion in some cities, as a general trend, the contradictions between supply and demand will
keep exacerbating due to the scarce land resources and the high-density land use patterns in major
cities,
(3) Residents travel behaviors
The total amount of trips has increased rapidly and transport structure changed a lot. This
change is associated with the level of socio-economics and urbanization, population structure, the
scale of the cities and transport services are changing. According to the existing research (Peng
Liren, etc., 2004), in China's major cities in the 1980s, the number of trips per capita had an
average of 2.2 times / day, and in the 1990s the number of trips per capita increased by 21.3%, up
to 2.68 times / day. The rapid development of motorization has not only changed the transport
mode share, but also the urban structure. It manifests mainly in the shift toward a rapid individual
transport mode. Taking Beijing as an example, between 1990 and 2000, the proportion of bicycle
traveling declined from nearly 60% in 1990 to less than 40% in 2000, while the proportion of
private car use is rising gradually from less than 10% in 1990 to nearly 30% in 2000.
These changes show that unlike in the past, China's modern urban transport faces problems
not only in quantity and scale, but also in the composition and level of service. These issues are

relevant to all aspects of the city, must be addressed properly from the perspective of urban
development.

1.5 Mutual

Influence

and

Acceleration

between

Urban

Transport and Urbanization Process

1.5.1 Phased urbanization process in China
There are great differences between the eastern, middle and western regions in China during the
process of urbanization. Cities and towns concentrated mainly in eastern region, while distributed
sparsely in western region.
At the same time, the cities and towns are also differing greatly from one another. An indepth analysis suggests the reason for the regional imbalance is that cities are in different
development stages. At the end of 2007, China's urbanization rate has reached 44.9%, but varies
by regions. According to the statistics, Shanghai's urbanization rate has reached 70%, the highest
in China. However, in the under-developed area the level of urbanization is less than 20%.
Therefore, various stages of urbanization result in a different urban form. These differences can be
clearly divided into two types: the preliminary stage and the advanced stage:
(1) The preliminary stage of urban development (urbanization)
Along with the reforms and innovations in urban management, long-existing combined ruralurban structure is gradually collapsing; the development of small towns gets faster. Socialeconomic development shifts from the primary industry to the development of the secondary
industry; land use and spatial patterns also will experience profound changes such as demographic
and economic concentration and arable land rapidly taken by industry.
(2) The advanced stage of urban development (metropolis)
The phenomenon that a group of mega-cities become the core of an urban economic region
becomes increasingly prominent in recent years. This phenomenon is also called
metropolitanization, economic circle, metropolitan areas. The Yangtze River economic triangle,
the Pearl River triangle, the Circum-Bohai-Sea are three metropolis that have been initially
formed, and as the evolution of urbanization, these cities will further strengthen their cooperation
and the economic performance will become even more prominent. Metropolis is the mature stage
of urbanization. Its corresponding economic structure of tertiary industry is mainly economic, and
secondary industries gradually move outward from the core cities, also accompanied by
suburbanization. Urban development will be towards more concentrated population and cities,
high-density land use, and expanding urban area.
The findings on urbanization trend in the study show that the regional and local
transportation system will be influenced greatly by the trend of urbanization and
metropolitanization. More attentions should be given to the following area: The strategic
development of urban transport should be able to accommodate the characteristics of the
developing stage; Regional transport planning will become increasingly concerned, especially the

10

study on intercity transport; Transport planning and policies should respond to the dynamic
changes in urbanization and metropolitanizaiton.

1.5.2 Features of urban transport development during urbanization

process in China
Urbanization evolves with the changes in the economic structure. urban and economic
development and urban transport mutually influence and promote each other. Therefore, the
characteristics of urban transport change as its interaction with the process of urbanization and
socio-economic development. The evolution of urban transport development during urbanization
process in china can be divided into three stages:
(1) Preliminary stage of urbanization
In this period, the secondary industry gradually accelerates, and its GDP accounts for the
largest proportion in the economic structure, and the proportion of agriculture begins shrinking.
During this period the urban economy and living has no great demand of transport. Transport
structure of the residents travel is usually carried out by non-motorized means, and the city's
traffic pressure was not obvious.
(2) Acceleration stage of urbanization
Proportion of the agricultural GDP in economic structure rapidly declines as the tertiary
industry increases its proportion of GDP to more than 40%. During this period the urban economy
experiences great changes such as the rapid expansion of cities, the sharp increase in traffic
demand, industrialization and simultaneous development of tertiary industry. The logistic
requirements of urban circulation become faster in order to enhance the urban freight and external
transport capacity and increase the residents trip distance, level of urbanization rapidly increases.
(3) Fully grown stage of urbanization
When the proportion of agriculture in GDP drops below 3%, urban space begins to aggregate.
Regulated by a series of principles such as scale economy, intensification, infrastructure etc,
production area and urban economic circle begin to grow into metropolis. Inter-city transport
demand keeps on growing; the convenience of transport service will be measured by time radius.
As a result of this, inter-city traffic will become more and more. As dramatic increase in travel
distance, the requirements are also gradually improving in terms of fast, safe, reliable, comfortable
and rapid. Timely and efficient rail transportation is much welcomed by the modern city. They are
also among the most effective means to solve the increasingly serious problem of urban transport
in large cities. Therefore, the development of large capacity, long-distance and fast public
transport, establish a good logistics system becomes the most important issue to improve the
transport system at this stage.

1.6 International

Perspectives

on

Urban

Transport

Development
Foreign cities have experienced the process of urbanization and motorization, and have

11

accumulated rich experiences that we could lesson in the development of cities and urban
transport. To refer to these experiences is of significant importance for the Chinese cities to make
fewer detours, to avoid major mistakes in decision-making, to reduce waste of time and resources,
and as a result to achieve the healthy and rapid development.

1.6.1 Experience and lessons learned in New York

The city of New York, planned by the New York Regional Planning Association (RPA) in 1922
consists of 31 districts and counties from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut. The area is 33,500
square kilometers and the population is 21 million, accounting for about 7% of the total U.S.
population. New York is a city where economy is highly concentrated in the urban areas,
especially in the central area of Manhattan, which is only 24 square kilometers, holds half of the
jobs of the entire New York City. The daily commuter traffic flow to the New York brings great
pressure to the road system. Because of the increasing population, the increasing volume of traffic,
built-up areas have to expand. The traffic situation inside New York City has become increasingly
serious; particularly in Manhattan the situation is even worse. According to statistics during the
morning peak hours, the lowest traveling speed could be as low as 11 km/h.
Despite the crowded New York subway and disrepair due to lack of funds, they play a
decisive role in public transport. It accounts for 70% of the total passenger flow, and New York
City is gradually increasing investment in public transport to improve commuter passenger service
levels. At the same time, ground transportation in New York City has also taken a lot of measures
to strictly limit access of private cars to Manhattan. Additional bus lanes are also added to improve
the efficiency of ground public transport and transporting capacity. As to the outlying district of
Manhattan, car trips are allowed to certain degree and commuters are encouraged to take public
transport to the Manhattan area.
In the view of a long-term planning, New York proposed the five basic principles for regional
planning as early as 1968, and the corresponding strategy envisaged in the first of which is to
create a new urban center for the significant increase in the demand for new jobs. To prepare and
focus on providing a high level of public services, such as health, cultural and recreational
activities, commerce, arts, education and other facilities for the development of suburban centers,
and to provide better services to New York city area with a multi-center form, this strategy reduces
the commute distance, and relieves the pressure on the public transport system.
Enlightenments of NYCs experience to China's urban transport development:
(1) Be consistent with transit first guidelines in passenger transport system development;
improve the capacity of the subway system, supplemented by ground public transport; at the same
time, strengthen regional management of private car use through which support transit priority
development.
(2) Well-conducted land use functionality plan; reduce the commuter trip distance ; ease
traffic pressure.

1.6.2 Experience and lessons learned in London

London is Britain's political, economic, and cultural and transportation center, the largest and most

12

important industrial city and harbor of UK, one of the world's top ten cities. The 12 urban areas
inside London are called Inner London, and 20 urban areas outside London city are called external
London. London City with both the inside and the outside London are collectively known as
Greater London City with an area of 1,580 square kilometers. As an international metropolis,
Londons key strategies to address urban transport problems are:
(1) Rely on advanced MTR network, a huge suburban railway network and bus lines
network.
London subway owns nine lines with a total length of 414 kilometers and a total number of
270 stations. Suburban railway is as long as 650 km with 550 stations. City Centre has 15
radically laid-out terminals. Central London is region with a high-density of MTR network, and
bus lines are reasonably connected with the network, in order t handle commuter trips in the
central areas. At the same time, the huge railway network connects inner London with the
outskirts, providing travel service covering a large area of London.
(2) Strict car-use management policies and measures
Greater London is divided into three regions, the City of London have a high density of the
MTR network in the region, the road congestion pricing policies are also implemented here so as
to improve the public transport system. Outer London allows the use of cars to certain extent.
Enlightenments of Great Londons experience to China's urban transport development:
(1) Improve the hierarchical structure of the MTR network ; clearly define the functionality
of various lines.
(2) Strengthen the management of private motor vehicles, and formulate concrete measures
to restrict the scope of their activities to ensure the operational standard of public transport.

1.6.3 Experience and lessons learned in Paris

The Paris region includes not only the ring road within the 105 square kilometers of the Paris
urban area, but also seven provinces around the city, with an area of 12,000 square kilometers and
a population of about 10 million, accounting for almost one-fifth of the country's population.
Paris city transport is directly intervened by the French central government, and the public
transport system dominates. Urban public transport network includes the subway, regional rail,
bus and three light rails, and some taxis. Transfer between different modes of transportation is
very convenient; fares are clearly priced; public transportation systems are well integrated and
with a very high degree of automation, and public transport signs are complete and well marked.
Rail transport includes the Paris subway, light rail and high-speed trains. Rail traffic commits to 70
percent of the Paris public transport, and the outskirts buses inside the city and in the outskirts
bear 30 percent. Metro has 15 lines with a total length of 199 kilometers, and is the backbone of
public transport. In the countryside there are 16 high-speed railway lines, with a total length of
760 km.
Measures Paris takes to solve traffic problems mainly include:
(1) Establish a system based on subway and supplemented by conventional bus; strictly limit

13

parking in the city; provide car parking spaces near suburban railway stations to encourage people
to take public transport;
(2) Built high-speed ring road to strengthen the connection between the central city and
suburban centers;
(3) As to urban freight, simplify the process of commodity distribution and storage to reduce
freight flow. Significant economic effects were achieved from designated place and time of
delivery and rational use of the road.
Enlightenments of Pariss experience to China's urban transport development:
(1) Accelerate the construction of the MTR. Experience has shown that subway development
is the trend of transport development in major cities and also a determinant factor to successful
transit priority implementation.
(2) Develop suburban railway transport. Railway is the most cost-effective means of transport
between major cities and their satellite cities, convenient for both passengers and commodity
transport.
(3) Establish integrated transportation terminals to improve the connection efficiency of
transfer.

1.6.4 Experiences and lessons learned in Tokyo

Tokyo comprised of 23 administrative districts, 26 cities and seven towns and eight villages, with
a total area of 2,160 square kilometers and a total population of 11.822 million, population density
of 5,472 people / sq km. Tokyos total area only makes up less than 0.6 percent of the country's
total area, but the population takes up 9.6% of the total population. Tokyo, together with its
neighboring Saitama Prefecture, Chiba and Kanagawa Prefecture, is called the "Tokyo
metropolitan area". With a total area of 3,497 square kilometers, and the total population of 29.456
million, the population density of about 2182 people / sq km. Since the Tokyo District regions
aggregates a large number of jobs, and the cost of land is high, limited resources force housing
construction to expand into the rural areas where land prices are cheaper, which has increased
pressure on Tokyo commuter traffic, which is even called the "commuter hell."
The main measures Tokyo uses to address urban transport problems is to establish a sound
public transport system, especially an urban rapid rail transit system, rapid rail traffic to develop
residential areas and industrial zones, with rail transportation group to guide the development of
new cities. At the same time, via a variety of hard-line control policy of the vehicle owners and
motor vehicle use. The current structure of travel in Tokyo differs by regions, as to a larger scope
of the Greater Tokyo, it relies mainly on car trips as a means of transport, followed by track and
walk, while as to inner the Tokyo District, rail transit is the key transport mean, followed by the
foot, motorcycles and cars.
Enlightenments of Tokyos experience to China's urban transport development:
(1) Implement transit first development strategy. The prerequisite to urban transport
development are clear and rational urban transport development policies and supporting measures.
It is critical to emphasis the public transport, primarily the public transport system (especially rail

14

transportation) construction, to make the urban transport moving towards a people-oriented system
with highly efficiency, low-consumption, and sustainable development.
(2) Integrate urban land use plan with rapid rail transport system plan and encourage the
balanced development; Guide land use by transit-oriented development principles.

1.7 Summary
Urban development and the process of human civilization are closely related. The emergence of
city is accompanied by development of human societys second largest division of labor. And the
first period of the upsurge of urban civilization is closely related to the industrial revolution. The
urban development experience since the 1920s has shown that industrialized cities have created
tremendous material wealth; they have also brought unprecedented urban problems. Thus, people
began to reflect on the relationship between man and nature, and formed the "ecological city"building objectives in an attempt to ease the constraints of urban development pressure on the
environment, resources and the ecological pressure.
As the opening chapter of the book, this chapter discusses cities and the evolution of human
civilization, the present and future development trends of the urban civilization. In our judgment,
the urban development is shifting from an industrial and commercial city, a handicrafts city
towards an eco-industrial city and a civilized city. In this context, this chapter introduces the
urbanization and the development of urban transport in China. China's urbanization is divided into
the initial stage of development, fluctuation stage, the stagnancy stage, the recovery stage and the
acceleration stage. This chapter also sums up the features of development of ancient and modern
transportation in China. By generalizing the mutual promotion and impact upon each other, this
chapter states that the close connections existed between urban development and transportation.
Finally, this chapter summarizes the national and international experience and lessons learned in
urban transport development that could be served as valuable reference and inspiration to
implement a vigorous, balanced and sustainable transportation system in urban China.

References
[1] National Bureau of Statistics of China. 2006. Statistical Yearbook of China
[2] Li Dehua, 2001. Urban Planning Principle. Beijing: China Architecture & Building Press.
[3] Peng Liren, He Min, Mao Haixiao, Ren Futian, 2004. Study on the Characteristics of Urban
traffic Development in China. Journal of Beijing University of Technology, Vol.30, No.3: 323328.
[4] Qiu Baoxing, 2007. Outlook of Urban Transportation Development in China. Urban Transport
of China, Vol.5, No. 5: 6-12.
[5] UN-Habitat, 2007. 2006/2007 World's Cities report.
[6] Zhang Hongen, Li Keji, 2007. The influences of Chinese ancient traffic model on urban
development. Shanxi Architecture, Vol.33, No.23: 43-44.
[7] Zhou Yixing, 1995. Urban Geography. Beijing: The Commercial Press.

15

16

Chapter 2 Challenges and Opportunities Facing China's

Urban Transport
2.1 Chinas Urbanization Development Trend
As an inevitable outcome of economy growth and a demonstration of an advanced form of society,
urbanization not only expresses itself in the form of population moving from countryside to cities,
but also in other forms such as the growth of urban population, the expansion of urban areas, the
gathering of production elements in cities, the continuously improvement of urban functions, as
well as the overall improvement of both rural and urban social, economic, and living standards.
The general trend of urbanization in China is as follows:
(1) Urbanization rate increases continuously and rapidly. The urbanization in China featured
in stable and rapid growth after the country adopted the reform and opening-up policies. It is
projected that the urbanization rate in China will reach 48% in 2010, and in next two to three
decades, its urbanization level will reach and even exceed the world average.
(2) The scale of urban construction keeps increasing. After China founded in 1949, urban
population keeps increasing, along with the increase in number of cities and expansion in urban
areas. In general, the urban construction in China is in a highly intensive form and at the end of
2007, about one third of total population live in the built-up land area, which accounts for 0.37%
of the total area.
(3) A shift towards a high quality growth of urbanization. Along with the social and economic
growth, the progress of urbanization in China will gradually move towards quality improvement
instead of quantity increase. The secondary and the tertiary industries account for an increasingly
important proportion in both national production structure and employment structure, with per
capita GDP and disposable income increasing on a continuous basis (Figure 2.1).

Source: China Statistics Yearbook by National Bureau of Statistics of China

17

Figure 2.5 Per Capita Disposable Income and Growth Rate for Urban
Population 2003-2007

2.2 Challenges

and

opportunities

facing

Chinas Urban

Transport
2.2.1 Chinas urban transport present condition and future tasks
The accelerated process of urbanization and urban socio-economic development exacerbates the
contradictions between traffic supply and demand; Chinese cities are now facing traffic
congestion, accident, environmental pollution and the rapid increase in energy demand and the
pressure of rapid urbanization. The main causes leading to the current traffic problems are:
(1) The rapid urban development impact greatly upon the existing urban traffic patterns
Configuration and adjustment of city's function zones change the original distribution and
characteristics of passenger and cargo transport. transport network and bus lines should also be
adjusted accordingly; expansion of the urban space, requires greater transfer speed; high-intensity
land development makes the passenger and cargo flow exceeds the capacity of the road;
improvements in the living standards of residents require better transport service; a substantial
increase in motor vehicle demand improvements in the existing technical standards and road
traffic capacity; Multi-level traffic demand makes it necessary to build a new comprehensive
transportation system.
(2) Lack of integration between expansion of urban space and transport development;
Transport development lags behind
due to lack of effective institutional and policy assurance, the connection between dynamic
urban development and urban transport has not yet been established, resulting in many major
cities in the central area continuing to aggregate, with excessive functions concentrated in the
downtown area, increased population density and job opportunities in the center of the city, The
central area continues to extend over the original scale, which further intensify inner city
transportation problems. The situation that population and industry keep on gathering in the urban
areas will persist.
High-speed highway corridors stimulate the rapidly growing car use; traffic analysis shows
certain centripetal and recurrent features of travel. The traffic conditions continue to deteriorate.
For example: Within Beijing's Third Ring Road, lane miles traveled within the urban area
accounts for 60 percent of the total in the city; within the Second Ring, namely Old City, accounts
for 47% of the total; The intensity of motor vehicle travel inside the city is 3.6 times that of the
external area. In the past eight years, the intensity of vehicle travels in the old city has increased
by 1.6 times (Beijing Transportation Committee, the Beijing Municipal Traffic Research Center,
2004).
(3) Serious traffic congestion in major cities restrained the economy and society development
In recent years, although major cities are accelerating the construction of urban transport

18

facilities, but contradiction between traffic supply and demand is still acute. Congestion in general
shows an increasing trend. The average traveling speed in Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities
decreased from of 40 km / h during peak hours to 20 km/h. Traffic congestions are serious
problem in these cities and the average traveling speed in the center of the mega cities could be as
low as 5 km/h (Qiu Baoxing, 2007). Traffic jams decrease the operational efficiency, also
increases the operating costs, and has seriously hampered the economic and social development.
(4) The lack of guided development of private cars further deteriorates urban transportation
structure
With the improvement in living standards and the increase in travel distance, public demand a
more comfort, flexible and convenient private travel mode, the ownership of private cars increases
remarkably. And compared to rapid development of private cars, the development of public
transport is relatively slow. As to Beijing, the roads and public transport investment ratio is 2.3 to1
and during the "9th Five-Year" this ratio further declined to 4.6 to1. The limited transport
infrastructure funds are mainly spent on highway and bridge construction, which virtually
stimulates the development of private car, and inhibits the development of urban public transport
(Wang Jingxia, 2006). According to the reported statistics, Beijing's public transport ridership has
decreased from 35 percent in 1986 to 29 percent in 2005 (Yu-Ling Zhang, 2006). Therefore, how
to accelerate the development of public transport so that individuals would choose public
transport, and how to make the comprehensive urban transportation system more rational are
demanding tasks for us.
(5) There is a substantial gap between the existing urban transport infrastructure and the
requirement of sustainable development.
At present, China's urban transport is at a low level, with undesirable road conditions,
insufficient management and fall-behind technology that lead to high possibilities of traffic jams
and accident, therefore seriously affect daily life and restrain the city's social-economic
development.
(6) Insufficient investment in public transit slows the development of public transport
Most of the cities invested little in public transport, resulting in public transport facilities and
services at a lower level. In 2004, the urban public transport investment in fixed assets totaled
32.85 billion, which accounts for 6.9 percent of the total fixed assets invested in urban
construction, compared with 44.7 percent invested in highway and bridges during the same period.
The shares of fixed assets invested in urban public transport are, 26.26 billion in mega cities with
80.0% of the total; 1.34billion in metropolis, accounting for 4.1 percent; 1.23billion in major
cities contribute, accounting for 3.7 percent; 4.02billion in small and medium-sized cities with
12.2 percent. On the whole the investment was insufficient (Qiu Baoxing, 2006). The serious
investment shortage limited the construction of bus stations and other infrastructures, thus
seriously obstruct the development of urban public transport.
(7) Inadequate transportation system integration; Resources are not being fully utilized
There lacks coordination between transport planning and urban space layout planning;
managements of different modes of transport lack integration; transport agencies lack

19

communication and coordination.

(8) Traffic demand management is far from adequate, creating additional burden to transport
facilities
Traffic demand management is the source management. It interconnects with land use
pattern, mode of transport and transport organizations, travel guidance, and so on. Inappropriate
demand management will lead to unevenly distributed special and temporal traffic resources,
increased traffic pressure. In static traffic, no sufficient emphasis has been placed on the
construction and management of parking facilities and effective means of regulating dynamic
traffic demand. Undifferentiated parking facilities in fact encourage the excessive use of the car.
(9) Intensified conflict between supply and demand of parking facilities
With the increase in the number of motor vehicles in cities, parking becomes a widespread
problem in big cities. According to the city's parking census undertook by Beijing Municipal
Transportation Committee in 2004, the city has a total number of 11,484 car parking lots for motor
vehicles, and 1108155 parking spaces that was only 50 percent of number of motor vehicles.
Survey data shows that the average utilization rate of public parking is relatively low on
weekdays, namely 56 percent and 82 percent on holiday (Wang Xiaoming, 2005). Contradiction in
the between supply and demand of parking facilities is a phenomenon in need of urgent solution.
(10) Crucial traffic accidents
The accident statistics issued by Ministry of Public Security indicate in China the number of
deaths annually from traffic accidents has increased to 107,100 in 2004, a nearly 7.6 times
increase compared with 14,096 people in the reform and opening-up year 1978, with an average
annual growth rate of 8.3 percent. Although since 2005, mortality caused by traffic accidents in
China each year has dropped below 100,000 people, but this value still makes up about one-fifth
of that of the world. In addition, China's mortality rate per million vehicles is significantly higher
than that of the United States, Japan or other developed countries. In 2006, China's mortality rate
is 6.6 million / 10,000 vehicles, compared with 2 per 10,000 cars in the United States, and 1.07 per
10,000 vehicles in Japan.
(11) Traffic management and transport policy can not meet the market demand
For a long time, China's urban transport systems components such as decision-making,
planning, construction, management, operation, maintenance and other sectors that are in charge
of different departments. This management system is highly centralized in order to adapt to the
former highly concentrated economy. With transition in economy development and diversification
of interests, the original model is unable to adapt to the requirements of government's public
service management in the market. A united entity is in demand to be responsible for transport
development strategy making, policy development, urban transportation system construction and
operation, traffic facility design, urban road maintenance, use and road clearance. Planning and
construction are disconnected from use and maintenance. There lacks effective coordination and
communication among different departments. Other problems such as redundant construction,
inefficient government ordinance, shrunk of responsibilities etc are also very common. As the
market economy further develops, an urgent requirement to break this sector segmentation and

20

fragmentation situation is of necessity. Via the establishment of a unified system of management

and coordination of policies and measures, the city's transport system will integrate its various
subsystems, thereby raising the city's transport efficiency.

2.2.2 Resources to China's urban transport development

With the rapid development of China cities, the problems of urban resources become increasingly
highlighted.
First, land resources for urban transport are limited, and the conflict between transport supply
and demand is intensified. In China's major cities, land for construction for each resident is strictly
limited to about 100 square meters, and that can be used for road transport is scarce. In 2004,
although the urban road area per capita reached 10.3 square meters, with an increase of 0.99
square meters as opposed to that of 2003, it still remained less than a half of the value in foreign
cities with high level of motorization. For example, in the U.S., in city with a population more
than 250,000, the road area per capita is 24.5 square meters; while Berlin, the per capita road area
is 21.7 square meters. Shortage of urban construction land make it rather difficult to expand road
transport facilities, which leads to high volume of construction and a population density as high as
20,000 people per sq km in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other super massive cities. In the
next 20 years, high-intensity, high-density urban development patterns will continue to maintain,
and the resulting high-intensity traffic demand will further deteriorate the contradiction between
supply and demand. There is an urgent need to apply new concepts, new ideas, and new
technology to seek the solution to these problems.
Second, transport energy supply can not meet the rapid growing demand of urban economic
and social development. Motor vehicles fuel consumption is large, which consumes more than 85
percent of the total output of gasoline and over 20 percent of total output of diesel in China.
Automobile consumption makes up about 50 percent of the total consumption of diesel, and
exceeds 20 percent of the total oil consumption. One large share of gasoline consumption is by
cars and motorcycles; while diesel is primarily consumed by transportation (including road, rail
and sea), agriculture, fisheries, and electric power.
In addition, China's oil utility ratio has been disappointing. Western countries are generally
40 percent to 50 percent, while China can only reach 33 percent. According to statistics, China's
building energy consumption accounted for 28 percent of the total energy consumption, and
integrated transport energy consumption accounted for 36 percent of the total energy consumption,
and China's oil imports in 2004 was 36 percent (Wang Guangtao, 2006). Because domestic oil
reserves and the exploitation is limited, new oil demand will be more and more dependent on
imports, and high dependence on foreign oil will have an impact on national security. To
economize fuel usage and develop alternative energy are two important areas in energy strategies.

2.2.3 Environmental
development

impact

of

China's

urban

transport

In recent years, China's rapid development of urban transport has caused increasingly serious
pollution, and urban transportation becomes a major source of urban pollution.

21

In regard to atmospheric pollution, as China's economy maintains rapid growth and gradually
accelerated process of urbanization, the transport needs of urban residents in recent years have
experienced rapid growth, and motor vehicles maintenance has enjoyed a substantial increase. As
a result of this, photochemical smog pollution caused by vehicle emission in major cities gradually
increases, the concentration of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and ozone (O3) has by far exceeded the
national standards in many cities such as Guangzhou, Beijing, Ningbo, Wuhan, Shanghai; air
quality has been seriously deteriorated, compound pollution such as vehicle exhaust and smog also
appears.
In respect to traffic noise, despite the mean of urban road noise can achieve national
standards, but noise on most urban trunk road exceeds the standards.
Impact on the environment caused by urban traffic has reached a fairly severe level. To
reduce its negative impact on the urban environment is the urgent demand of the current urban
development.

2.2.4 Cultural background of China's urban transport development

Urban development is a historical process of culture accumulation, and urban transport
developments closely related to the cultural backgrounds and historical traditions. China's
traditional cultures impact on urban development and urban transportation development is
enormous. It penetrates into the origin of living and all the way through the various stages of
urban development.
China's traditional culture affects people's way of thinking, values taking, behavior
characteristics, city structures and urban transport system. The development of China's urban
transport should make full use of the advantageous results traditional culture brings about, and
abandon the obstructions it causes. It is also necessary to refer to successful foreign urban
transport development patterns in order to develop China's urban transport system accordingly.

2.3 China's future urban transport development opportunities

2.3.1 New technology development trends
Faced with growing traffic congestion, accidents, energy shortage, environmental degradation and
a series of traffic problems, transportation analysts are finding solutions from various aspects such
as the demand management, application of new technologies to traffic problems.
The application of new technologies, such as ITS, to the urban transport will enhance the
capacity of transport facilities, road safety, transport efficiency, transport services, reduce the level
of energy consumption and pollution, accelerate the integration of transport system and bring
revolutionary changes to the transportation system.
Some China cities have gradually used subsystems of ITS, and have been gradually reducing
traffic congestion and making some achievements in enhancing safety level, energy conservation
as well as emission reduction. In future, the application of new technologies will also play an
important role in urban transport development process.

22

2.3.2 Energy system development trends

Energy is the essence of urban transport development, but no designated plan for urban transport
energy in China. With the development of urban transport, based on the concept of sustainable
development, the sustainable urban energy system must be formed. Such a system should be
adaptable to the current practice in China and meeting the goals of sustainable energy,
environmental quality, and optimization of resources.
First of all, the existing practice in China determines that for a long time in the future, highintensity, high-density urban development patterns will likely to remain, and the associated highintensity traffic demand, traffic will further deteriorate the contradictions between supply and
demand. There is an urgent need for new concepts, new ideas, and new technologies to seek
solutions to the urban traffic problems.
Secondly, as domestic oil reserves and production is limited, the exceeded oil demand will be
more and more dependent on imports, and the high dependence on foreign oil will have an
considerable impact on national security. In this sense, to economize fuel usage ratio and to
develop energy alternatives are two priority areas for energy strategy making.

2.3.3 Environmental system development trends

At present, the economy-advanced regions in China have come into the rapid urbanization and
industrialization period, and the urban traffic environment has become the focus of social concern.
Like most of the countries around the world, the urban traffic congestion and environmental
pollution have become constraints to China's socio-economic development and obstacles to the
improvement of people's quality of life. Citys rapid and sustainable social-economic development
requires a safe, efficient, clean and economic urban transport system; urban residents constantly
demand high quality of life, and they also need safe, comfortable, convenient and affordable
public transport services. To improve the urban environment, what required are the increased share
in public transport, because public transport is more friendly to the environment as compared with
other modes.
As urban transport development brings convenience to people's lives, at the same time, it
inevitably increases tolls on the environment, the atmospheric environment and sound
environmental. However, with advances in science and technology, the improvement of relevant
laws and regulations, as well as rapid development of urban road construction, urban traffic
pollution will undoubtedly be controlled well.
First of all, as for air pollution caused by urban transport, measures will be taken to adopt
clean green energy, enhance vehicles performance etc to reduce air pollution.
Secondly, in regard to urban traffic noise pollution, it is critical to incorporate this concern
into the planning process and by improving vehicle performance as well as transport facilities to
reduce noise pollution.
Again, restrictions on urban roads construction and the irrational distribution of traffic
facilities will be greatly improved so as to reduce exhaust emissions and noise pollution.
The development of urban transport will certainly bring great changes to urban lifestyle, and

23

brings the residents more convenient traveling experience.

First, the development of transport will expand the scope of residents activities. Because of
the rapid development of transport facilities, the travel time radius of resident will gradually
expand, making further expansion of urban areas.
Second, urban functions will become more aggregated. Urban mobility and accessibility will
be greatly enhanced, and the functions of the city will be further developed
Third, with the development of communications and related technologies, the percentage of
new working styles, such as SOHO, will further increase.
Fourth, urban residents travel intensity will further increase, and purpose of travel will be
more diversified.
Fifth, the concept of traffic will change too. A "people-oriented" concept will gradually be
established. Traffic is not only the basic requirements of living and production, but also an element
of culture. To carry forward the advanced culture of traffic, it is necessary to promote traffic
ethics, ask people to be responsible for their own traffic consumption behavior. To cultivate lofty
culture of urban transport requires participants continuous learning and long-term accumulated
knowledge.

2.3.4 Concept change in transport development

In the future urban transport development process, peoples perception of transportation
development will change.
First of all, in future urban development, the concept of public transport priority will be
further implemented. Public transport priority consists of two basic aspects. One is to support the
transit industry and the other is to restrain private car use. Support means via various means of
public transport to improve transit operating speed and service quality, to ensure the priorities in
such aspects as land use, investment, right of way and finance and taxation policies; while to limit
means to restrict the purchase and use of private cars to reduce its impact on public transport. The
improvement in urban transportation structure involves supporting walking and bicycle use,
promoting a shift from private car use to an efficient green transport mode; reasonably controlling
the size of the taxis and change taxis operation mode to decrease idle load; actively promoting the
reform in public transit operation system; reasonably managing urban logistics to make the
transport of goods develop into an simplified aggregated mode to realize the ultimate goal of an
"efficient, convenient, fair, orderly, safe and comfortable, energy-saving green" development.
Secondly, the "green traffic" concept will be widely accepted by the people. Green traffic
indicates a wide range of urban transport methods that can reduce traffic congestion and pollution,
promote social equity, save construction and maintenance costs. "Green Traffic" pursuits an
orderly and fluent transport system which is both safe and comfortable, with low energy
consumption and environment pollution. "Green traffic", melt with the modern development of
transport planning, is now replacing the traditional concept.
Third, the level of transport services in the course of the trip will be required to meet higher
standards. With the improvement of living standards, public are likely to ask for increased level of

24

transportation services. Accessibility no longer suffices, higher level of comfort and other service
properties of transportation are required.

2.4 Summary
China's sustainable urban transport development is facing unprecedented challenges as well as
opportunities under the new situation. From the development trend of urbanization, Changes such
as large number of transfers from rural to urban areas, continuous improvement in urban system,
urban expansion of regional town/city group, will have a tremendous impact on urban transport
development. In this situation, resources and environmental restrains closely related to urban
transport development and traffic demand are the key factors to be considered in the process of
making transport development strategies. China's unique traditional culture (For example, the
concept of harmony between man and nature) is incorporated into urban planning and construction
process and becomes a social norm of the public.
In the new development era, progresses made in technology, energy security, environmental
protection, traffic and lifestyle changes have brought new opportunities to the development of
China's urban transport. Whether we can take these opportunities is closely related to the
successful implementation of a sustainable urban transport system.

References
[1] Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications, Beijing Transportation Research Center,
2004. Beijing Transportation Development Guideline.
[2] Qiu Baoxing, 2006. Fulfill bus transportation priority strategy, expedite the construction of
socialist harmony: a talk on the working meeting of national bus transportation priority. Urban
Vehicles, 2007, 1
[3] Qiu Baoxing, 2007. Outlook of Urban Transportation Development in China. Urban Transport
of China, Vol.5, No. 5: 6-12.
[4] Tsinghua University, Sustainable Urban Mobility Project Group, 2007. Urban sustainable
Mobility in China: Problems, Challenges and Realization. Beijing: China Railway Publishing
House.
[5] Wang Guangtao, 2006. The situation and mission of Urban transport planning. Urban
Transport of China, Vol.4, No.1: 1-4.
[6] Wang Jingxia, 2006. Changes for the Function and Mentality of Urban Transport Planning in
New Time. Urban Transport of China, Vol.4, No.1: 17-22.
[7] Wang Xiaoming, 2005. Consideration of the Parking Issues in Beijing. Urban Transport of
China, Vol.3, No.3: 32-35.
[8] Zhang Yuling, 2006. Triple thinking of "Public Vehicles Archive". GuangMing Daily,
November 9, 4.

25

Chapter 3 Impact

Factors

and

Implementation

Approaches to China's Sustainable Urban Mobility

3.1 World Sustainable Mobility Study Overview
3.1.1 Concept Generation
The concept of sustainable mobility emerged first with the increasing awareness of environment
and energy issues. After the Second World War, the economy increased rapidly in the developed
countries, together with bloomed population, intensified environment pollution, greater
consumption of non-renewable resources. This unprecedented situation aroused peoples attention
that the natural and environmental resources must be sustained during the development process of
society and economy.
In 1972, the United Nations held a Conference on Human Environment in Stockholm and
issued the "Declaration on the Human Environment". It has drawn worldwide attention on
environmental issues, with special attention given to environmental degradation and "cross-border
pollution problems". It developed an in-depth study on the relationship between environmental
protection and economy. In 1980, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and
Natural Resources (IUCN), United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), World Wildlife Fund
(WWF) jointly issued the "world's natural resources protection strategy", and for the first time
explicitly put forward the concept of sustainable development.
1994, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) held the General
Assembly with the theme "Achieving clean transportation: energy efficiency and energy saving
cars" and for the first time formulated the concept of sustainable transport in Mexico. Two years
later in Vancouver, OECD held another conference with the theme "facing the sustainable
development of the transportation system", which issued the Canadian Transportation sustainable
development report. In 2002, the United Nations Johannesburg Summit (Johannesburg Summit)
clearly put forward the goals of sustainable transport development: to change the existing mode of
transport development, and to reduce traffic pollution as well as hazard to human health.

3.1.2 Research Review

Studies on sustainable urban mobility began in the 1990s, a set of representative studies are listed
as follows: John Whitelegg in the 1993 book " Transport for a Sustainable Future: The Case for
Europe", David Banister and Kenneth Button, "Transport, the Environment and Sustainable
Development ", Gary Haq in the 1997 book "Towards Sustainable Transport Planning: A
Comparison Between Britain and the Netherlands", and in 1996 the World Bank's report"
Sustainable Transport: Priorities for Policy Reform" and the World Business Council for
Sustainable Development Sustainable Urban Transport Research Group's report "Mobility 2030",
to name a few. In these works, detailed explanations were given to the concept, content and policy

26

decisions of sustainable mobility. These findings provides basis for future studies. However, they
are still preliminary works on theoretical and practical process of incorporating sustainable
development into transportation planning and management (LU Huapu et al, 1999).
The studies in China can be divided into two directions; one is on practical problems solving
and policy decisions of sustainable urban mobility in China, and the other is on sustainable urban
mobility planning theory and methods. The former mainly concentrates the efforts from
transportation institutes, e.g. Tsinghua University Sustainable Urban Mobility Project with
publication titled Sustainable Urban Mobility in China: Problems, Challenges and Realization"
(2007), China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development
(CCICED) associated with Academy of Transportation Science, Ministry of Communication
(2005). The latter are mainly studies conduced by Universities in China, such as Tsinghua
University (Lu Huapu et al, 2006, 2007; Shen Wei, 2005; Wang Yuanyuan, 2004), Southeast
University (Lu Jian, 2003), to name a few.
In order to evaluate the performance of urban transportation system, many measurements are
put forward in China and abroad. Typically, the following are widely used: Canada STPI
(Sustainable Transport Performance Indicators), Germany COMPASS (COMPAnies' and Sectors'
path to Sustainability), Stockholm (Sweden Stockholm) regional planning indicators, the United
Kingdom LTP (Local Transport Plan) indicators, the Smooth Traffic Project Indicators established
by Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of Construction of China, and measurement made by
Southeast University.

3.2 Definition and explanation of China's sustainable urban

mobility
In this book, the sustainable urban mobility system is defined as the following:
Sustainable urban mobility system is a comprehensive mobility system that can meet the
rational demand of present urban development for mobility and human well-being to the utmost
extent with relative small resource consumption and low environmental cost, at the same time
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The system shall
have the following major characteristics: safe, smooth, highly efficient, comfortable, environmentfriendly, energy-efficient, and highly accessible.
The high efficiency and high accessibility are the keys to guarantee the continuing and rapid
development of the nations economy, the improvement in the living standards and the assurance
of national security. The high efficiency mentioned here indicates reasonable shares for different
transport modes, seamless connection, small amount of void trips and short trip time. A highly
efficient mobility system can greatly reduce production cost, promote the development strategy of
regional economic circle and stripe, lower the logistic cost and improve international
competitiveness. The high accessibility refers to the high coverage, convenient use and provision
of options, which demonstrates the principle of equality.

27

3.3 China's

prospects

for

sustainable

urban

transport

development
3.3.1 An Ideal Model for Future Urban Development
According to the study made by UN-HABITAT, in next 50-100 years, more than two thirds of
total world population will live in cities. Restrained by limited natural resources, and environment,
and population, human society will face unprecedented challenges in urban development.
Therefore, to explore an ideal model for urban development and an ideal form for human habitat
so as to construct an urban society featuring high efficiency, health, and equality and to achieve an
ideal habitat environment, these are issues being given increasingly priorities by all governments,
international institutions and academic communities.
Eco-city is a concept first proposed during the research of Man and the Biosphere (MAB)
Program launched by UNESCO in 1970s and received extensive attentions immediately from the
entire world. Instead of seeking simply a beautiful natural environment, a high green area
coverage rate, a low environment pollution, a clean and beautiful environment or a city depends
totally on the operation rules of natural systems, people shall focus on the overall and sustainable
development of natural compound social and economic systems. An eco-city is an advanced form
and stage for modern urban development, featuring the harmonious coexistence of people and
nature, the high efficiency in resource utilization, the sustainability of urban development, the
integrity of efficiency realization, as well as the globalized cooperation.
Since 1980s, the international community started the research on eco-city and many countries
started to make the concept into reality. The concept of constructing eco-city proposes a new goal
for the development of modern cities, and to construct an eco-city shall not limited by making
corrections to the pollution and consequential results caused by technological and urban
development, but must focus on a process of creation instead, during which both people and the
nature develop harmoniously and continuously. At present, ecological garden city advocated by
Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Construction is a short-term goal for constructing eco-city
and has important significance in promoting the sustainable economic and social growth in China.

3.3.2 An Ideal Model for Future Urban Mobility System

The development of urban mobility system is driven by its inherent evolution mechanisms. Taking
urban China as an example, the evolution of mobility system can be divided into four phases as
follows:
(1) The preliminary phase
During the period before industrialization and motorization, the urban population grew
slowly, and people traveled on foot or by bicycles, animal-drawn and other non-motorized modes.
These modes had great proportion in transportation mode share, and with a relatively short
distance. The contradiction between transportation demand and supply is not obvious.
(2) The step up phase

28

With economic development in urban China, GDP increased and the living standards of
people are promoted, and the urbanization process begins to accelerate, in the meanwhile the
number of vehicles is increasing. The primary issue of urban mobility system is the contradiction
between the rapid increasing demand for mobility and the limited transportation supply. To meet
the demand for motorized transportation, the transportation planning is mainly mobility-oriented,
and the construction of infrastructures is demand-driven. These infrastructures, such as wider
streets, better expressways and intersections, stimulate the use of motorized vehicles especially
private cars. In no more than ten years, traffic congestions in Chinas big cities due to the
excessive use of motorized vehicles. In conclusion, it is not appropriate to encourage private car
use in urban China.
(3) The speed up phase
During this period, the priority issues become the conflicts between public transportation and
private transportation. In response to the rapid development of motorization, the Smooth Traffic
Project has been carried out in urban China from the year 2000, in order to promote urban
development in a healthy and scientific manner. The policy of public transit priority becomes of
the primary strategy for urban mobility development. The Ministry of Construction promised that
in the year 2010 the public transit will be the major component in urban transportation system.
(4) The mature phase
In future, the contradiction between the level of transportation service and peoples diverse
demands for transportation will become the critical issue. To solve it, a new model of urban
mobility system is in need, which offers people quick, safe, highly efficient and highly accessible
services. The characteristics of such a model should be:
Coordination: The transportation development should be consistent with ecological
environment and the demand of people and national economy for transportation. For this purpose,
it is necessary to consider land use and transportation, different modes, network and hubs,
planning, construction and management in an integrated system framework.
Efficiency: Such a system should provide smooth, safe, comfortable, reliable, multi-modal
and multi-level transportation services. It is important to establish a comprehensive transportation
system with seamless transferring.
Accessibility: This system should improve the ease of people reaching activities for desired
purposes. The measure of accessibility should be incorporated into the transportation planning
process.
Ecology: This system should preserve resources and reduce environmental pollutions, to
sustain the healthy development of itself while meet the development needs of society and
economy.
People-oriented: This system should emphasize on demand of people, focusing on personal
development and social equity, and provide transportation modes that are comfortable,
environment-friendly and people-oriented.

29

3.4 Objectives of Sustainable urban mobility development

The objective of sustainable urban mobility system is to meet the demand for mobility, optimize
use of resources, improve environmental quality, promote social harmony, and increase level of
safety so as to realize the virtuous development cycle of society, economy, mobility and
environment.
In particular, it shall contain the following objectives:

Meeting the demand for mobility of social and economic development;

Improving transportation efficiency and mitigating traffic congestion;

Coordinating the development of transportation and land use;

Optimizing the use of resources and improving the efficiency;

Reducing environmental pollutions and promoting virtuous cycle of ecosystem;

Promoting social equity and increasing the options for travel;

Improving traffic safety;

Integrating the urban transport system;

Establishing guarantee system for sustainable urban mobility.

3.5 Major impact factors of Sustainable urban mobility

3.5.1 Major impact factors
The urban transport system is a huge, complex system, and influenced by various factors. The
followings are major factors, such as urban form and land use, urban transport structure, road
network, traffic management system, and transportation demand management, to name a few.
(1) Urban form and land use
Transport and land use are interrelated and mutually influences each other. From the view of
transport planning, the travel characteristics dependent on different land use patterns, e.g. the trip
generation and attraction, trip distribution, mode split, and even traffic flows are under the
influence of land use and urban form. Adjustments in urban form and land use distribution will
greatly change the travel behaviors. From the view of urban form and land use, transport system
provides fundamental services to support the development of locational activities. For this reason,
to achieve the sustainable development of urban mobility, one cannot only consider transport side,
but also urban form and land use.
(2) Urban transportation structure
Urban transport system consists of various modes, motorized and non-motorized, public and
private. They are distinct in lots of aspects, including speed, capacity, energy consumption,
environmental influence, operational cost, accessibility, comfortableness and safety. A transport

30

structure is the composition of different transport modes working orderly and reasonably.
Therefore, transport structures are different from one another as mode shares are different. For
urban China, due to the limited land resources, public transport should be prioritized in the
transportation structure for the reason that public transport can reduce land use, energy
consumption and environmental impacts.
(3) Urban road network
Urban road network, from the supply side, plays an important role in transport system. The
features of road network have a great influence on urban transport and urban development. The
total mileage of road network is one of such significant features. The ratio of urban road area to
total urban area should be kept in a reasonable range. Besides that, the hierarchical structure,
functionality and connectivity of road network are also important in road system.
(4) Urban traffic management
Urban traffic management is the guarantee system for urban transport and urban
development. It provides an implementation tool for handling the problems facing urban transport.
The goal of traffic management is to achieve the efficient, convenient, comfortable, energy-saving
and environment-friendly transport and urban prosperity. It is worth noting here that the urban
traffic management is a systematic approach involving efforts from a wide range of areas
including planning, design, construction, operation, management and evaluation.
(5) Transportation demand management
Transportation demand management, from the demand side, provides large amounts of
strategies to adjust and control urban travel demand. The strategies, by means of transport
planning, policy and traffic management, seek a balanced distribution of traffic flows temporally
and spatially.

3.5.2 Evolution Mechanisms of the demand and supply of urban

mobility system
The evolution mechanisms of the demand and supply of urban mobility system can be illustrated
using Figure 3-1.

31

Figure 3.6 The evolution mechanisms of transportation demand and supply

If the system cannot satisfy the increasing traffic demand, there are three ways to realize such
a balance, based on different situations of the relationship between demand and supply.
Case 1: transportation management level is low and the transportation infrastructure is not
fully used. The maximum utilization of transportation infrastructure and the mitigation of the
unbalance between supply and demand could be attained by modern and scientific traffic
management approaches, in order to realize a dynamic balance.
Case 2: the overall transportation infrastructure structure is imperfect and the infrastructure
of different travel modes are not in accordance with the urban traffic demand characteristics.
Larger transportation capacity can be provided by improving transportation infrastructure
especially that of transit system. By doing this, a more rational mode split and improved
implementation effort of traffic engineering could be attained, so as to realize the dynamic balance
between traffic demand and supply.
Case 3: the transportation infrastructure has been well developed and fully used, yet it is
already in a saturated state. In order to maintain the traffic supply and demand balance, the city
should adjust the urban structure and land-use forms so as to improve the traffic demand
characteristics on long term basis.
Among the three cases, in order to attain the balance of traffic supply and demand, case 1 and
case 2 focus on augmenting the traffic supply while case 3 focuses on improving the traffic
demand characteristic. Whether to ameliorate transportation management, improve infrastructure
or to adjust land-use forms, sufficient resources(R) should be involved and relevant planning and
policy measures are required. Transportation system (T) and urban activity system (A) will lead to
a new balanced state of traffic flow (F). The only difference is whether by altering traffic supply
T or traffic demand A to solve the contradiction between the supply and demand.

3.6 Approaches and steps to realize sustainable urban transport

Generally speaking, urban mobility system is an open, complex and giant system. Its a complex
systematic project to solve urban transportation problems. It can be approached from three
dimensions, two aspects (Lu Huapu,1999) to dynamic balance between demand and supply by
taking systematic and comprehensive countermeasures based on precise understanding of the
interactions between transportation supply and demand of specific urban area (seeing figure 3-2).
The three dimensions are as below: Firstly, from the point of view of urban planning and land
use, it should avoid the over centralization of urban population and urban function, which leads
the total traffic demand to exceed the transportation capacity limit. It should avoid the overdevelopment of urban particular land, which leads the partial transport system fail to support such
demand. Secondly, from the point of view of transport structure, it should take various effective
measures to prioritize the public transport development and form an integrated transport system in
which the public transport hold the dominating place. Such a system could use efficiently the
limited urban land resource and transport infrastructure to improve the transport environment.
Thirdly, it should improve the capacity of road network by providing wel-structured road network.

32

Besides, it should fully utilize the existing transport infrastructure by scientific and modern
management of urban transport.
The two aspects includes: implement measures from transport supply and demand sides at the
same time so as to dynamically balance the supply and demand.

Figure 3.7 Overall idea for solving urban transportation problems

3.7 Summary
Guided by the principle of better city life, this chapter details the basic conception, explanation
and objectives of sustainable urban mobility, and analyzes the influencing factors including urban
form and land use, transportation structure, road network, traffic management and transportation
demand management, as well as the interaction and evolution mechanisms between these factors.

33

At last, the overall idea of solving urban transportation problems is proposed from three
dimensions and two aspects.
The sustainable urban mobility system is defined as a comprehensive mobility system that
can meet the rational demands of present urban development for mobility to the utmost extent at a
relatively small resource input and low environmental cost, without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs. The system shall have the following primary
characteristics: safe, smooth, comfortable, environment-friendly, energy-efficient, highly efficient
and highly accessible. The objective of sustainable urban mobility system is to meet the demand
for mobility, optimize use of resources, improve environmental quality, promote social harmony,
and increase level of safety so as to realize the virtuous development cycle of society, economy,
mobility and environment.

References
[1] China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED),
2005. China Academy of Transportation Sciences, Ministry of Communications. Strategy and
Policy Series for Sustainable Transportation development in China. Beijing: China
Communications Press
[2] Lu Huapu, 1999. Advanced management of Urban Transportation System. Beijing: China
Communications Press.
[3] Lu Huapu, Gao Song, 1999. Active Demand-guiding: new theory of transportation planning
considering the sustainable development. Journal of Highway and Transportation Research
and Development, Vol.16, No.4: 29-33.
[4] Lu Huapu, Mao Qizhi, Lee Zheng, He Kebin, Shuai Shijin, Zhang Liang, 2006. Urban
Sustainable Mobility: problems, challenges and research topics. Urban Studies, Vol.13, No.5:
91 -96.
[5] Lu Huapu, Ye Shi, WANG Ji-feng, 2007. Sustainable urban transport: evolution mechanism
and implementation approaches. Comprehensive Transportation, 2007 No. 3: 5-10.
[6] Lu Jian, 2003. Sustainable urban transportation planning: theory and methods [D]. Nanjing:
Southeast University.
[7] Shen Wei, Lu Huapu, 2005. A Model and its application of transportation structure
optimization based on urban sustainable development. Central South Highway Engineering,
Vol.30, No.1: 150-153.
[8] Tsinghua University, Sustainable Urban Mobility Project Group, 2007. Urban sustainable
Mobility in China: Problems, Challenges and Realization. Beijing: China Railway Publishing
House.
[9] Wang Yuanyuan, Lu Huapu, 2004. Integrated model of urban land-use and modal split based
on urban sustainable development. Journal of Tsinghua University (Science and
Techonology), Vol.44, No.9: 1240-1243.
[10]World Bank, translated by Urban Transport Center, Ministry of Construction, 2002.
Sustainable urban transport: the prime issues of policy reform. Beijing: China Architecture &

34

Building Press.

Chapter 4 Metropolitan Area and Regional Transport

System
4.1 History and Status of Metropolitan Area Development
In late 19th Century, with the great changes in social and economic fields initiated by the
Industrial Revolution, urban space in western developed countries has undergone tremendous
changes: industrial production became the leading force for urbanization, the connection among
different cities became increasingly close, cities were no longer restricted by independent
development framework and started to be regionalized, resulting gradually in a brand new urban
space form: urban agglomeration space. In 1980s, with the continuous extending of
industrialization into developing countries, the urban agglomeration gradually became a leading
and dominating development trend in the entire world (Zhang Jingxiang, 2000).
(1) Development Process of Urban Agglomeration
The formation and development of urban agglomeration (conurbation) is a historical process
and closely related with the era of Industrial Revolution, showing a new trend of the world
urbanization development. British scholar John Friedman believes that the formation and
development of conurbation can be roughly divided into four stages: the first stage is the
agricultural society before industrialization, when different cities are independent yet isolated; the
second stage is the initial stage of industrialization, featuring scattered cities and towns but only
those cities enjoying rich resources, convenient transportation, or dense population and relatively
big markets or other regional geographical advantages had chance to develop; the third stage is the
mature stage of industrialization, the central-peripheral urban structure gradually changed into
multi-centered structure, with some leading peripheral areas developing rapidly to form regional
central cities and bigger market, laying an economic foundation for the formation of city cluster;
the fourth stage occurred during the late period of industrialization, with the rapid development of
industrial satellite cities, regional infrastructure facilities become increasingly complete and
connection among different cities becomes increasingly close, resulting in an integrated city
network later known as the urban agglomeration.
The process of city and urban agglomeration development in China is different from that in
western countries adopting market-oriented system. In 1970s, under the condition of planned
economy, the leading spatial feature of urban agglomeration is the concentration of
administratively arranged cities and towns, and the administrative division of cities and towns
resulted almost in their totally isolated development. In 1980s, with the deepening of economic
system reform, urban agglomeration space started to grow horizontally according to the plans, and
the construction of economic cooperation areas focusing on different types of economies reinforce
the connection among different cities. After the middle 1990s, with the continuous deepening of

35

reform on market-oriented socialist economic system, the property, scale, speed, and performance
of inter-city relationship became further reinforced and promoted, resulting in a general trend of
integration. At present, therere three leading urban agglomeration in China, namely, the Yangtze
River Delta Area, the Pearl River Delta Area, and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area, all with a general
trend of rapid growth.
(2) Current Status of Urban Agglomeration
According to the analysis made by Jean Gottmann, urban agglomeration with a total
population of more than 30 million is known as Megalopolis. Based on this standard, three leading
city clusters in Yangtze River Delta Area, the Pear River Delta Area, and Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan
Area are mega urban agglomeration. As megalopolis at national level, they will form the basic
framework for urban development in China and represent the urbanization level in this country.
But there are many problems during the process of Megalopolis development and the leadings
ones are as follows: urban agglomeration is in want of radiating core and the function of central
city is not prominent; the industrial chain in urban agglomeration is weak and the integration
among different cities is low; the functions of different cities in urban agglomeration are not
clearly defined, without secondary city cluster system featuring multiple layers; local interests
still impede the integration of urban agglomeration and theres no effective coordination
mechanism available.

4.2 Basic Development Patterns for Metropolitan area and

Regional Sustainable Transport System
The regional spatial structure of urban agglomeration reflects the economic structure, social
structure, scale structure, and functional structure of different cities in the region, therefore its
formation and evolution are actually the results of multiple and complicated factors. In terms of
the history of urban development in the world, the transport is in a large sense the precondition for
a city to rise, develop and prosper; every evolution stage of urban agglomeration spatial structure
is accompanied by the social and economic progress, the transport technological innovation, and
traffic network upgrading.
Currently, China is undergoing a stage featuring accelerated urbanization growth of urban
agglomeration and all cities start to grow and expand rapidly. During this stage, there are also
some problems for transport and spatial development in urban agglomerations, for example: the
transport system is low in grade, indirectly resulting in a loose spatial connection among urban
agglomerations; cross-border regional road transport system restricts the expansion of urban
space; cities and towns extend in lines along regional transport facilities; the regionalization
of urban spatial expansion brings forward new requirements on transport.
To sum up the basic rules and patterns for foreign and domestic urban agglomeration spatial
organization and transport development and to be based on the actual conditions in China, it is
suggested to reasonably organize the guide urban agglomeration spatial planning by developing
high-speed trunk road system centering on public traffic and the construction of modern traffic
infrastructure, such as rail transport and high-speed public traffic system, so as to achieve a

36

relatively compact space and to realize intensive expansion and sustainable regional transport
development.
(1) Transport System Development and Urban Agglomeration Spatial Evolution
During the process of regional development and construction, the transport system
development and urban agglomeration evolution interact and are mutually dependent, for the
growth of urban agglomeration needs the support of traffic system, while the transport
development will guide the evolution of urban agglomeration. To sum up, the functions of
transport system development on the evolution of urban agglomeration space are twofold: on the
one hand, it promotes and guides the urban spatial expansion; on the other hand, it directly
changes regional conditions and functioning scope for urban development, creating new attractive
regional nodes enjoying transport advantages and new cities or city functioning areas before
further changing original spatial structure of urban agglomeration.
(2) Urban Agglomeration Transport System Construction Pattern
In terms of current urban agglomeration transport development in China and its formation of
mainly high-graded road network and railway network in a short term, the long-term plan is to
construct a system composed of high-graded road network and regional rail transport system so as
to finally construct a high-speed urban agglomeration transport system focusing on rail traffic,
high degree of flexibility, and multiple means and to realize the regional public transport system
and to guarantee an intensive utilization of regional social resources and an orderly development
of the space.
High-speed rail transport
As a public transport means with scale effect, regional high-speed rail transport system is a
new technology universally adopted in urban agglomeration at present. On the one hand, it helps
to promote and support the extension of urban space along transport corridor and to change the
development form of urban agglomeration; on the other hand, it helps to achieve the intensive belt
development in downtown areas as well as the intensive area development in suburban areas (Pan
Haixiao, 2002) so as to achieve a compact urban core area and a compact group areas along the
transport lines. The barrier for the construction of regional rail transport facilities is relatively high
investment and whether there is enough traffic flow. Currently, most urban agglomerations in
China dont have conditions to construct regional rail transport facilities, but since this is the
inevitable trend in future, the space for rail transport facilities shall be reserved in advance during
planning.
High-speed bus transport
At present, Chinese urban agglomeration shall actively develop public transport systems
focusing on high-speed bus transport and shall promote the construction of high-speed public
roads connecting urban agglomeration as well as exclusive public transport lanes in urban trunk
road lines so as to reinforce the accessibility and availability of traffic means between cities and
inside cities. Moreover, compact city group shall be constructed along public transport lines
featuring the comprehensive utilization of land resources so as to achieve urban agglomeration
space with nodes of towns and cities intensively located and at different levels and with

37

development axis of public transport network.

In this sense, the high-speed regional rail transport system as well as bus transport will
further promote the formation of a compact city group in the node-axis pattern (grape cluster) in
compact core urban area and compact town clusters.
(3) Urban Agglomeration Integral Spatial Organization Pattern
In view of current problems concerning urban agglomeration space in China, from the
perspective of transport planning and urban agglomeration spatial organizing, in future, China
shall manage to realize the compact city core area centering on the construction of public transport
system, the compact and densely located city groups in node-axis pattern centering on the
construction of high-speed bus transport system, as well as loose satellite city groups in peripheral
areas of urban agglomeration centering on car transport. The spatial feature of the last one is the
combination of compact urban area plus an open regional area.
Compact City Core Area
It mainly refers to the cities located in the center of urban agglomeration. Since highway will
divide up urban space, its better to construct highway in peripheral areas of the central city. On
the one hand, the cross-border traffic will be moved out of the downtown area; on the other hand,
the expansion of urban space will be restricted within the borders. At the same time, the intensive
construction of public transport system and the integral development of land resources will finally
result in a relatively compact core area.
Compact and Densely Located City Groups in Node-Axis Pattern (Grape Cluster)
Cities or towns adopt the pattern of combining cluster and green areas to expand the space of
core urban area. During this process, in order to avoid the repetitive development along the
transport axis as well as the extension featuring low density, the planners shall construct compact
city and town groups connecting with public transport system along transport axis while
preserving a large amount of ecological green areas as open space among different groups so as to
achieve a sustainable regional spatial form.
Loose Satellite City Groups
As for cities and towns located in the peripheral areas, due the geographical restriction, they
have a loose connection with the compact core area and therefore the construction of transport
system shall focus on cars so as to achieve loose satellite city groups.

4.3 Development and Sustainable Mobility in Beijing-TianjinHebei Metropolitan Area

Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei metropolitan area (Figure 4.1) is mainly composed of two delta areas of
Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan and Beijing-Tianjin-Baoding covering such cities as Beijing, Tianjin,
Tangshan, Baoding, and Langfang, with a total population of more than 40 million and a total land
area of about 70,000 square kilometers. Moreover, according to the actual demand on research, the
region can also be expanded gradually and by different research programs to cover peripheral

38

cities including Chengde, Qinhuangdao, Zhangjiakou, Cangzhou, and Shijiazhuang, with a total
land area of 170,000 square kilometers and a population of more than 60 million, which is also
known as Greater Beijing Area, or the capital region and its environs in historic literature, or the
capital zone by some scholars. Taking into consideration of Hengshui, Xingtai, and Handan city in
south Hebei Province, the total land area of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area is 216,000 square
kilometers, and the total population in two cities and one province is nearly 100 million.

Source: the Second Report on the Rural and Urban Spatial Development Planning Study for the Capital Region

Figure 4.8 Urban System in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area

(1) A Review on Urbanization Progress in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area

39

The core of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area urban agglomeration consists of five cities of

Beijing, Tianjin, Tangshan, Baoding, and Langfang, while its peripheral cities include
Zhangjiakou, Chengde, Qinhuangdao, and Cangzhou, among others. Currently, its urbanization
progresses slowly in general, with low capacity of absorbing excess rural labors and inharmonious
urban and rural structure. The connection between core cities with peripheral areas is relatively
weak, resulting in a weak influence on surrounding areas while at the same time resulting in a
tight resource supply in core cities and a heavy burden on environment. Furthermore, except for
core cities, the overall urbanization rate in the region is low, with unreasonable macro arrangement
and scale structure in urban system, for theres no reasonable combination of big, medium, and
small cities with reasonable spatial planning and function structure. The industrial basis in some
cities and towns is weak with incomplete functions, laggard infrastructure, severe environmental
pollution, enjoying insufficient capacity in gathering main production elements, little influence
and driving force. The intensive degree of towns is low, while the construction projects in some
cities and towns take up too many farming land areas and the administration needs to be further
improved.
(2) An Analysis on Existing Problems of Transport System in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban
Agglomeration
At present, therere defects in the overall planning of transport network in Beijing-TianjinHebei, for the network focuses exclusively on core cities instead of on the important inter-city
transport. Both railway and road networks radiate by centering on core cities and the passenger
and cargo flow in Northeast China, Inner Mongolia, areas long the Yellow River and Yangtze
River, as well as in Southeast coastal areas have to use either Beijing hub or Tianjin hub, bring in a
tremendous amount of cross-border traffic flow for both cities. To make things worse, since the
work division and cooperation of Beijing and Tianjin is not well planned, resulting in an uneven
peak and slack season. The focus on the construction of inter-city transport lines and network in
Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area is far from sufficient; therefore it fails to meet the demand on a rapid,
convenient, safe and economical city passenger and cargo transport. The inter-city transport means
is unitary, both passenger and cargo transport is in want of more options and necessary
competition. Moreover, the regional transport structure is not reasonable, with insufficient
coordination among different traffic means, among which the lagging of railway construction and
the great insufficiency of its transport capacity result in the concentration of most traffic load on
roads, which increasing the transport cost, destroying the environment, and consuming too much
energies, greatly affecting the economic growth in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area.
(3) An Exploration on Sustainable Transport System and Harmonious urban agglomeration
Development in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area
The development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei shall focus on the reconstruction of a reasonable
regional spatial structure by sticking to the concept of capital zone, and the construction of
sustainable transport system and the coordinated city cluster development shall also be based on
an integral plan on regional spatial structure. In order to meet the urgent need of sustainable
regional development, it is required to explore and decide on a general strategic development
pattern.
To combine the organic decentralization of core cities and the re-centralization of the

40

entire region so as to adopt a dual-core/multi-center metropolitan zone strategy

During the development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area, an organic decentralization is
necessary to solve the problem of disorderly and excess centralization of core cities so as to
relieve pressure on space. Correspondingly, a re-centralization shall be adopted in the regional
scope so as to promote the change of the regional development from once center to multiple
centers. Taking the city of Beijing as an example, the focus of urban spatial de-centralization shall
be the priority of developing such areas enjoying favorable transport conditions, such as lines of
Beijing-Tianjin, Beijing-Guangzhou (Shenzhen), Beijing-Qinhuangdao, and relatively healthy
ecological environment. Other areas shall be gradually developed based on the scientific
researches of regional transport system, ecological safety pattern, and function structure (Figure
4.2).
The spatial structure in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area shall be changed from the star shape (with
on central city radiating to its surrounding areas) to a dual-center/multiple center structure; to
combine the organic decentralization in core cities and the re-centralization in the entire region so
as to create new centers and change the original star-shaped structure, to finally achieve a better
urban network and a relatively balanced integral regional development during the process of
development .
To be more specific, as fro the regional development in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, two cities of
Beijing and Tianjin shall serve as centers and the main axis, supported by two wings of Tangshan
and Baoding so as to decentralize the functions of big cities according to actual requirements and
feasibility, to made adjustment to industrial pattern, to develop medium-size cities, to increase city
number, to construct city cluster in Greater Beijing Area featuring supplementary advantages and
common development (Figure 4.3).

41

Source: the Second Report on the Rural and Urban Spatial Development Planning Study for the Capital Region

Figure 4.9 Spatial Development Pattern in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area

To realize the integral utilization of land resources in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area and the
comprehensively balanced and reinforced ecological construction
The utilization of land resource must meet the short-term and long-term needs, taking into
consideration of both local and regional interests so as to achieve comprehensive, balanced and
integral management of land utilization in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area. On the basis of
environmental capacity, it is required to protect ecological environment sensitive areas and
important ecological service functioning areas, to clearly define reservation areas or areas with

42

restricted development, to construct regional ecological environment and treat the areas along the
river on a comprehensive basis, to protect the farming land and forests in areas without sufficient
water resource, to develop ecological green land, to improve ground coverage, to combine
ecological environmental protection and construction, to develop urban development belt and
urban corridor along Mount Yan and Taihang Mountain, in coastal areas and along trunk transport
lines.
To construct a comprehensive transport system and to reorganize development space
It is required to actively promote the construction of inter-city high-speed rail network, to
reinforce passages with big capacity, so as to create new conditions for the expansion of urban
areas and for the organization of city system. It is also required to adjust and control regional
spatial planning by constructing regional transport network so as to guide the reasonable
development and utilization of land resources.
To emphasize the construction of inter-city rail transport system so as to achieve a
public inter-city traffic system and to promote regional prosperity;
To focus on the connection of and work division between high-speed and ordinary
transport lines;
To give priority to public traffic and pedestrian, to develop subway or light rail when
therere proper conditions, to stop car wave and the chaos of extension with public transportoriented transport system;

To combine the development of transport nodes and regional urban development;

It is required to define the work division and cooperation between two leading hubs in Beijing and
Tianjin so as to realize the change from a regional transport network featuring unitary center and
radiating in influence to a network with dual centers and in the form of network.
To emphasize the construction of transport hubs so as to achieve a new pattern featuring
two supplementary leading hubs (instead of a leading hub and a supplementary hub) with distinct
work division and close cooperation; to reinforce the function of Tianjin as a hub so as to
reasonably share the business of Beijing hub;
To construct a group of secondary transport hubs or regional transport centers in areas
surrounding Beijing and Tianjin: Tangshan, Baoding, Qinhuangdao, Chengde, Zhangjiakou,
Cangzhou, Huanghua, and Caofeidian;
To construct five high-speed transport lines and trunk lines with big capacity to join
together the main cities in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area and the area with other areas in the country
and with other countries as well;
To achieve the separation between passage and cargo transport and a modern railway
network with high efficiency by constructing high-speed railway lines and increasing the speed of
existing railway lines;

roads

To construct developed road network composed of high-speed road and trunk national

At the same time, it is required to reinforce the organic connection between transport and
43

communication hubs including aviation ports, sea ports and information ports and regional and
inter-city modern comprehensive transport network. It is also required to plan and reserve
sufficient development land areas for the construction of international hub airport and to reinforce
cooperation and reasonable work division between coastal ports so as to achieve an efficient port
system.

Source: the Second Report on the Rural and Urban Spatial Development Planning Study for the Capital Region

Figure 4.10 High-Speed Road Plans in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area

To adopt the development pattern of constructing transport axis, city groups, and
ecological green areas so as to reshape the new sustainable regional human settlements.

44

It is required to plan city groups in the form of grape cluster along traffic axis and in
appropriate areas that are linked to each other so as to gradually construct an urban corridor in
Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area and to reserve land resource for future development. The planning of
the development of regional center makes it possible for local people to enjoy the convenience of
both rural and urban areas, to protect natural forms of hills, wetland, and areas along rivers as well
as natural resources, and to preserve both natural views and places for recreation. Such new
functions of city such as high-tech industrial park shall be planned in proper places; the city
corridor with transport axis in the form of grape cluster shall be merged into the regional
ecological environment so as to achieve a new and sustainable form of regional human settlements
on the basis of a favorable ecological environment.

4.4 Conclusion
This chapter explores in depth the basic rules and pattern for the sustainable development of urban
agglomeration and transport system during the process of rapid urbanization at regional level,
concluding that a reasonable organization and planning of urban agglomeration space can be
achieved by constructing high-speed trunk lines focusing on public traffic means, that the function
of leading and promoting of modern high-speed transport infrastructure shall be emphasized,
including the development of rail traffic and high-speed public transport means, so as to achieve
relatively compact space, to realize intensive extension as well as the sustainable regional
transport development. Last but not the least, the case study of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area
analyzes the existing problems concerning the urban agglomeration and transport system
development, proposing specific strategy and advice on how to achieve a reasonable regional
structure and sustainable transport development in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area.

References
[1] Wu Liangyong, 2002, Research on the Rual and Urban Spatial Development planning for the
Greater Beijing Region (Beijing, Tianjing and Heibei) , Tsinghua University Press.
[2] Wu Liangyong, 2006, The Second research on the Rual and Urban Spatial Development
planning for the Greater Beijing Region (Beijing, Tianjing and Heibei) , Tsinghua University
Press.

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Chapter 5 Balanced Urban Development and Urban

Transportation Planning
5.1 Overview of the Present Urban Planning in China
5.1.1 Classifications and Systems of Current Urban Planning
Urban Planning Law of the Peoples Republic of China promulgated on 26 December 1989 is the
first law on urban planning after the PR China was founded in 1949. Its enforcement lays a solid
legal foundation for the development of urban planning in China. With the deepening of reform
and opening-up as well as the economic and social reforms, however, the Law shows
inadaptability. Therefore on 28 October 2007, the NPC Standing Committee adopted City and
Country Planning Law of the Peoples Republic of China, which, on the basis of the Urban
Planning Law and according to the requirements of both sticking to scientific development
concept and of putting spatial resources under state administration, decides on a new urban
planning system, that is, the planning on urban system, on cities, on counties, on towns, and on
villages. There are master plans and detailed plans for city planning and town planning. The
detailed plans can be further divided into two categories of regulatory detailed planning and site
planning. All these different types of planning are also known as legal urban and rural planning.
In order to adapt to the new changes of regional development environment, local
governments propose some new requirements on planning during the process of implementation,
gradually resulting in some new and non-regulatory spatial planning types, including urban spatial
development strategic planning research, urban agglomeration planning, metropolitan zone
planning, city conceptual planning, integrated urban and rural planning, overall downtown area
planning, city designing, community planning, new socialist countryside planning, and
development priority zones planning.

5.1.2 Regulations on Present Urban Planning

5.1.2.1 Urban system planning
According to the newly adopted City and Country Planning Law and Measures on Compiling City
Planning, urban system planning can be further divided into three categories of national urban
system planning, provincial urban system planning, and municipal urban system planning.
(1) National urban system planning: a supporting system proposed on urban development
based on the bearing capacity of national ecological environment, on the national industrial
development plans, on the rules of population move, and on the applicable national policies and
regulations on urbanization so as to decide on the strategy of urbanization development and to
clarify national urban spatial structure;
(2) Provincial urban system planning: a supporting system proposed according to the

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requirements of national urban system planning, so as to carry out regional development policies,
by proposing provincial urbanization strategy, urban spatial structure at provincial level, proposing
requirements on the development of leading cities in the province in such fields of transport,
human culture, important infrastructure, ecological environmental protection, resource
development and utilization, and historical and cultural heritage;
(3) Municipal urban system planning: an important part of overall urban planning, including
following important content: to propose integrated urban and rural development strategy; to decide
on comprehensive goals and protection requirements on ecological environment, land and water
resources, energies, natural and historical and cultural heritage protection; to propose principles on
spatial administration; to predict on total urban population and urbanization rate so as to decide on
urban population size, functional work division, spatial arrangement plan and construction
standards; to basically decide on urban mobility development strategy.

5.1.2.2 City planning and town planning

According to City and Country Planning Law, the content of city and town overall planning shall
cover: city and town development pattern, functional district division, land use planning,
comprehensive transport system, geographical areas with banned, restricted, or approved
construction projects, all types of specific planning.
The master planning is based on national urban system planning, provincial urban system
planning, as well as other legal planning made by any higher administrative levels. It studies city
orientation and development strategy from the perspective of regional economic and social growth
and aims to bring into full play of the functions of central cities in regional radiating influence and
driving force, to reasonably decide on urban and rural spatial arrangements, to promote an overall,
harmonious and sustainable regional economic and social development according to the
requirements on a harmonious population, industrial, and employment growth, the control of
population size, the improvement of population quality as well as the requirements on effectively
distributing public resources and on improving human habitat environment.
Municipal regulatory detailed planning proposes regulatory indices on the land use and
construction of specific areas so as to decide on such issues of land use property, development
intensity, facility supply standards, and view requirements based on legally approved overall
planning or regional planning by taking into consideration of relevant specific requirements,
serving as the foundation for urban and rural planning administration to issue construction permit.
Site planning shall propose specific plans and design on the construction of specific construction
sites based on legally approved regulatory detailed planning.

5.1.3 Urban Planning and Transport System

Transport system is one of the core contents for urban spatial planning and directly related to the
orientation of land use and land development efficiency. Its also an important channel for the
government to promote regional development through investment. Currently, as for the
compilation of urban planning, the main contents concerning transport are: to propose urban
mobility development strategy, to decide on the principle of outbound transport facilities planning
and the planning of main road and transport facilities, to decide on overall city public transport

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system, to clarify the planning of city trunk road system network, city rail transport network, and
transport hubs.
The exploration of the relationship between land use and transport system forms an important
part of current urban planning in China, and it mainly involves in the relationship between urban
morphology and transport means, the relationship between city land development modes and
transport system, the combination of urban planning and transport system planning, and the
evaluation of development strategy. The strategic decision shall be made based on comprehensive
researches about the choice of land use and transport models in big cities and mega cities.
Current planning on rapid growth in China is similar to that in western countries in 1960s in
the sense that we know human factors including social and economic ones are important, yet the
knowledge hasnt been applied in theories, models, and actual researches; transport system
planning hasnt been combined with land use planning, and the focus is still attached to the
construction of road facilities so as to meet the rapid growth of automobile fleets; and the
administration and research on transport demand shall be further reinforced. In near future, the
researches made in the field of transport shall focus on localized theories and models, the
reasonable and scientific planning, management, decision-making, as well as multi-disciplinary
cross research methods.

5.1.4 Evolution of Urban Planning to Integrated Urban and Rural

Planning
The government shall monitor and control the planning, thats an administrative function that
should be further reinforced in future and shall serve as an important part together with other
leverage in industries, planning, finance, monetary, and land resources. In future, urban planning
will become comprehensive urban and rural planning, and with market-oriented modern economic
system, the governmental administrative function in urban and rural planning will be further
reinforced so as to achieve just, fair and scientific allocation of urban spatial resources, to actively
promote a harmonious social development from the perspective of spatial planning. To configure
an integral modern urban and rural plan with distinct Chinese characteristics is a hard job, which
therefore shall be gradually developed and improved with the accumulation of actual planning
practices.

5.2 Introduction to current urban transportation planning

Thirty years have passed since urban transportation planning was treated as a specific, practical
discipline in China. The period can be divided into four phases.
(1) From late 1970s to early 1980s, the urban transport problems in Chinas mega-cities
became more and more severe as the recovery of economics and increase of bicycles and motor
vehicles. Professionals and planners were aware that the traditional, qualitative method invented in
1950s was unsuitable for current situation and that advanced transportation planning theory and
methodology were needed. During this period, modern transportation planning theory, as well as
computational techniques, was introduced into China for making urban comprehensive
transportation planning. At the same time, dozens of cities in China carried out large-scale

48

personal trip survey, analyzed the characteristics of urban travel behavior and drew transportation
plans in a quantitative way.
(2) From mid 1980s to early 1990s, as the Reform and Opening up process speeded up, cities
in China saw an exciting period of infrastructure construction aiming to tackle the urban
transportation problems. Coming to the transportation planning, the famous four-step travel
demand forecasting model was involved into the travel behavior analysis, based on the personal
trip survey. It is the very beginning that qualitative analysis and quantitative computation were
combined with each other.

Figure 5.11 Process of transportation planning

(3) From early 1990s to the year 2000, central authorities and local governments had been
aware of the complexity and difficulty in finding solutions to urban transportation problems, due
to the rapid development of economic growth, motorization and urbanization. In this period, the
quantitative work and computational techniques were widely used in urban transportation planning
process, especially in demand analysis and infrastructure planning. Meanwhile, great
improvements had been made in survey organization, data analysis, model accuracy, demand
forecasting and strategic guidance, and urban planning, facility design, logistics and traffic
management were integrated into transportation planning. Figure 5.1 shows the classic procedure
of transportation planning.

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(4) Since the year 2000, the smooth traffic project has been put into action by Ministry of
Public Security and Ministry of Construction. The development indicators of urban transportation
system were built to evaluate the performance level of transportation system in major cities of
China. This project promoted the depth and width of transportation planning and management in a
scientific and modernized way.
The professionals and planners concluded from the experiences of research and planning that
urban transportation planning should combine both the qualitative and quantitative approaches and
coordinate with the travel demand and future guidance.

5.3 Experience of Developed Countries in Promoting the

Balanced Development of Land Use and Transportation
During the process of urbanization in developed countries, many cities once faced the problem of
imbalance development between land use and transportation. In order to deal with this problem,
they have undergone long-term explorations under different social, economic, political, cultural,
and administrative conditions and gained a lot of successful experience, which can be classified
into the categories of urban governance, governmental policy, implementation tactic, and planning
technique.

5.3.1 Experience regarding Urban Governance

(1) To classify the balanced development of land use and transport as one of the goals of urban
governance, and to construct an administration system in favor of the balanced development of
land use and transportation in cities;
(2) To set up a special office of comprehensive coordination within the administration
framework of cities, this will take the charge of coordinating land development and transport
construction;
(3) To set up and institutionalize the coordinating mechanism according to the actual
conditions so as to reinforce the effective coordination among different governmental departments
and that between land development and transport construction.

5.3.2 Experience regarding Governmental Policy

(1) To endow city planning the right and status of coordinating land development and transport
construction, so as to bring into full play the comprehensive coordination role of city planning, in
particular that of master city planning, on land development and transport construction;
(2) To set up the transport construction beneficiary sharing system so as to reasonably
distribute the interests of land development brought along by transport construction and to realize
the favorable interaction between land development and transport construction;
(3) To set up and improve the institutional system that facilitates the balanced development of
land use and transportation by way of provide it with an institutional guarantee.

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5.3.3 Experience regarding Implementation Tactic

(1) Under the condition of integrated planning, to actively advocate the comprehensive
development which integrates land development with transport development, so as to realize the
balanced development of land use and transportation based on the principle of mutually
benefiting;
(2) To establish, via either market or government according to the actual conditions, a sound
beneficial partnership among private organizations or between private organizations and public
institutions and to actively promote marketing operation;
(3) To actively widen the financing channels by way of multiple taxation methods, so as to
increase the investment sources for transport construction, especially for public transport
construction;
(4) To actively promote the integration of investment, construction, and operation of public
transport, so as to reduce the cost, to raise the service level and to improve the operation
efficiency,

5.3.4 Experience regarding Planning Techniques

(1) In city planning and especially in master city planning, to reinforce the organic combination of
city functional layout and transport system layout, so as to avoid the imbalance between land
development and transport construction caused by insufficient planning and to create favorite
conditions for the balanced development of land use and transportation;
(2) To add to the existing statutory documents of city planning the contents of overall layout
planning and implementation phasing planning for the projects to be realized, so as to facilitate
and regulate the comprehensive development of land use and transportation within a certain area
and a certain period as well;
(3) To conduct integral planning for urban transport construction and development, so as to
reduce the possibility of traffic jam through the integration of different transportation systems.

5.3.5 Other Experience

To resort to legal means to bestow a legal binding force on relevant systems, policies, and
regulations so as to provide with a legal guarantee for the balanced development of land use and
transportation. For example, in France, the Code of Urbanism makes clear descriptions on the role
and status of city planning, the contents of all types of city planning documents, and the planning
policies of preemption right, delayed development zone, agreed development zone and so on,
which endows all the systems and policies facilitating the coordination between land development
and transport construction with legal force and serves as legal guarantee for achieving the
balanced development between land use and transport by way of implementing the relevant
systems and policies.

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5.4 Implementation and Administration mechanism of balanced

development of Land Use and Transportation in Beijing
In recent years, when China saw a sustained economic growth and accelerated urbanization,
Beijing has experienced a great increase of urban construction in terms of both speed and scale,
with its functional structure being adjusted and its urban space being expanded continuously. At
the same time, there emerged the issue of unbalanced development between land-use and
transportation, both of which are the important parts of urban construction, attracting gradually the
attention of different aspects of the society. This unbalance can be seen, at the macro level of the
whole city, from the inconsistent layout of land-use and road system and the inconsistent
distribution of real estate development and transportation infrastructure construction, as well as at
the micro level of a specific locality, from the inconsistent matching of the intensity of real estate
development with the carrying capacity of transportation infrastructures and the inconsistent
implementation of real estate development and transportation infrastructure construction. The
factors influencing the balanced development of land-use and transportation involve not only
urban planning, but also urban governance, implementation tactic and planning technique as well.

5.4.1 Institutional factors influencing balanced development of landuse and transportation

5.4.1.1 Difficulty of definition as urban governance goal
Quite different from the onefold index such as economy, society, environment, and transportation
etc., the balanced development of land-use and transportation is a comprehensive one that
concerns all the aspects of land-use development and transportation construction, i.e. the
performance of land-use efficiency, the increase of travel efficiency, the improvement of
transportation service, and so on. It is hard to be either depicted qualitatively or analyzed
quantitatively through a complete index system. That is why it has been for a long time that the
society, in particular the governmental departments, does not pay due attention to it, and it is not
scientifically defined as one of the urban governance goals. Consequently within the current
framework of urban governance, there is neither the mechanism, nor the organization, nor the
policy dealing specifically with the balanced development of land-use and transportation, which is
the fundamental reason for the imbalance between land-use development and transportation
construction. For instance, regarding the current organization of the municipal government of
Beijing, the governmental functions influencing the balanced development of land-use and
transportation involve mainly the administrations of investment, planning, land, construction,
transportation and so on, which are respectively the duties of 8 municipal commissions (or bureaus
and committees) and 5 subordinate institutions. Within the limits of the functions and the powers
endowed by law, these organizations carry out their duties respectively by way of planning
management at macro level and technical service at micro level, playing influences either directly
or indirectly on the balanced development of land-use and transportation (see Table 5.1), yet there
is neither a mechanism to integrate nor a system to evaluate their actual influences on it.

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5.4.1.2 Multiplicity of administrator and complexity of procedure

Regarding the construction projects of real estate and transportation infrastructure, there exists a
rigorous procedure of project administration within the current framework of urban governance, in
which more than a decade governmental departments are involved from the early stage of
examination and approval before the construction to the late stage of check and acceptance after
the construction, including those in charge of the administrations of investment, planning, land,
construction, transportation, traffic, fire protection, civil air defense, landscape and forestry,
environmental protection, earthquake, road and so on (see Table 5.2). In spite that in principle, the
project administration involving the governmental departments concerned might promote the
balance between real estate development and transportation infrastructure construction, but in fact,
the multiplicity of administrator and the complexity of procedure weaken this positive role to such
a considerable degree that it can hardly play any substantial influence on it.

5.4.1.3 Absence of departmental coordination

In theory, in view of its syntheses and complexity, the balanced development of land-use and
transportation cries for close cooperation of the governmental departments concerned. While in
practice, due to the facts that the current urban governance is mainly based on departmental
administration and there is no explicit regulations on the functional relations among and the
institutional coordination of different governmental departments, each governmental department
concerning the balanced development of land-use and transportation is usually restricted to its
assigned functions when exerting its obligate duties, without due consideration on the synthetic
effect of urban governance and the coordination and integration with other governmental
departments. This can be seen easily from the inconsistency in terms of both distribution and
scheduling between the planning and implementation of land consolidation, reserve, supply and
development which are the duties of the land administration authority and those of transportation
infrastructure construction which are the duties of the transportation administration authority.
Certainly, regarding the balanced development of land-use and transportation, there are some
kinds of coordination among the governmental departments concerned in the current urban
governance. However, this coordination only takes place when dealing with key projects or key
issues, far from being institutionalized. Moreover, the mode of departmental coordination is also
quite simple and simplex. At present, when dealing with a specific project or issue, the most used
way of departmental cooperation is combined departmental meeting, on which the governmental
department who is most directly correlative to the project or the issue is in charge of bringing
together the governmental departments and other organizations concerned to make a resolution in
the form of meeting summary on the basis of agreement after discussions. Yet, the coordination
mode of combined departmental meeting has its intrinsic disadvantages. Firstly, as any key project
or any key issue concerns a considerable number of governmental departments and other
organizations, the organization work of combined departmental meetings is usually very fussy and
complicated, leading necessarily to the increase of administration cost. Secondly, as the resolution
of combined departmental meetings in the form of meeting summary does not have a legal status,
it can not be carried out efficiently as the departmental decisions with legal force.

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5.4.1.4 Limitation of departmental functions

Facing the challenge of balanced development of land-use and transportation, the governmental
departments concerned are also embarrassed by their restricted functions. Within the current
framework of urban governance, they can only play the role of guide and control on the
development of land-use and transportation at macro level by way of planning management, while
are lack of the effective measures to coordinate the distribution and scheduling of the construction
projects of real estate and transportation infrastructure at micro level, which inevitably weakens
their positive influences on the balanced development of land-use and transportation. Properly
speaking, in terms of investment administration, the influence of Beijing Municipal Commission
of Development & Reform on the balanced development of land-use and transportation is limited
to guiding and controlling, at the spatial levels of municipality and district and in line with the
policies of industrial layout and industrial development, the scale and structure of the investments
in real estate development and transportation infrastructure construction, in particular the
respective amounts, the proportion between the two, and the distributions among different
districts. In terms of planning administration, that of Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban
Planning is limited to making sure that all the construction projects of real estate and
transportation infrastructure would be in accordance with the planning and design terms which are
fixed by urban planning. In terms of land administration, that of Beijing Municipal Bureau of
Land & Resources is limited to guiding and controlling, at the spatial levels of municipality and
district and in line with land-use planning, the scale and structure of the land supplies for real
estate development and transportation infrastructure construction, in particular the respective
amounts, the proportion between the two, and the distributions among different districts. In terms
of transportation administration, that of Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications is
limited to guiding and controlling, at the spatial levels of municipality and district and in line with
comprehensive transportation planning, the scale and structure of the investments in the
construction of various transportation infrastructures and the distributions among different
districts. Although it can alleviate to a certain extent the unbalanced development between landuse and transportation by way of strengthening the construction of transportation infrastructures at
the localities that are badly suffered from traffic congestions, it is more a choice without
alternative like locking the stable door after the horse is stolen, rather than a conscious action to
balance the development of land-use and transportation.

5.4.1.5 Existence of administration leaks

Regarding the balanced development of land-use and transportation, there exist also some
administration leaks within the current framework of urban governance, particularly the default of
the supervision over the assigned utilization of real estate development projects after completion.
In spite that the current project administration requires the step of checking, accepting and
recording the completed construction projects in line with the terms of urban planning,
construction and other aspects concerned, it is usually done respectively by different governmental
departments, in accordance with their different functions and powers and with different focuses.
For instance, when checking, accepting and recording the completed construction projects of real
estate, the Law Enforcement Supervision Division of Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban
Planning pays more attention to verifying whether the planning and design terms, such as building

54

boundaries, building height, building surface, etc. which are fixed by urban planning, are fully
respected, while Beijing Municipal Construction Committee pays more to verifying whether the
construction quality is high enough to reach the norms, and the authorities concerned including
those of fire protection, civil air defense, landscape and forestry, environmental protection and
earthquake pay more to verifying whether the construction measures up the respective
requirements. However, after that the construction is put into use, no authority is in charge of
supervising its actual utilization to make sure that the buildings and the sites would be in the
assigned utilization. That is why in reality, there emerges often the phenomenon that the planned
transportation buildings or sites are partly or completely transformed into other uses, shifting a
certain number of traffic to the surrounding areas, which finally leads to the unbalanced
development of land-use and transportation.

5.4.2 Technical factors influencing balanced development of land-use

and transportation
5.4.2.1 Incompletion of contents and superficiality of studies
As an important measure of and argument for urban governance, urban planning plays a
significant role of synthesis and coordination during the process of urban construction and
development. Thus the rational and scientific urban planning is an important premise for the
balanced development of land-use and transportation. Nowadays, when Beijing, as the capital city
of China, a historical city of great repute, and a megalopolis of large territory and big population,
is undergoing rapid urban construction and development, its urban planning has to face a great
number of problems, which, together with the lag of planning techniques, result in the
imperfection of urban planning, in particular that the contents are not complete and the studies are
not thorough enough. This can be easily seen from the following aspects. Firstly, within the
framework of urban planning system, the short-term urban construction planning and the district
planning are not carried out yet, which leads to not only the ambiguous delimitation of the hotspot
areas for short-term constructions, but also the difficult fulfillment of the general guidelines fixed
by the master planning. Secondly at macro level, as the balanced development of land-use and
transportation is not included in the goals of urban governance, the city master planning does not
pay due attention to that issue and no special prescriptions are made from the perspective of
balancing the development of land-use and transportation to orientate the objectives of urban
construction and development, as well as to coordinate the layout of land-use and road system.
Thirdly at micro level, the detailed control planning which is the key technical argument for
planning administration remains to put forward, regarding a specific site normally at the spatial
level of neighborhood, the abstract guide lines of planning such as land utilization, floor area,
building density, building height, FAR, etc., which are less adaptable to the market due to the low
flexibility; thus in reality, there emerge usually the phenomenon of breaking through the guide
lines fixed by the detailed control planning or that of revising the detailed control plan, in hope of
increasing the development intensity, which not only severely damage the authority and solemnity
of urban planning, but also lead ultimately to the unbalanced development of land-use and
transportation.

55

5.4.2.2 Technical defects of transportation influence evaluation

Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications is a professional authority of transportation
industry which plays a significant role of coordination regarding transportation issues, and the
mechanism of transportation influence evaluation is an important technical measure for it to play
its role of balancing the development of land-use and transportation. Currently, the transportation
influence evaluation remains to be carried out at the micro level of project, i.e. taking the site of
the project as unit and analyzing the transportation influences of the project on its surrounding
lots. However, transportation is a systematic issue and the partial rationality does not necessarily
lead to the rationality of the whole. Even the transportation analysis on a specific site should be
made from the perspective of the block or even the neighborhood where it stands. Therefore in
terms of techniques, the current transportation influence evaluation is still incomplete, which,
together with the shortage of technical forces, lead the transportation influence evaluation to a
certain extent to a kind of superficies.

5.4.3 Political factors influencing balanced development of land-use

and transportation
5.4.3.1 No special considerations on transportation in terms of land supply
Nowadays in the land market, land trades are mainly done through auction at the highest price.
Under the condition of limited land supply, this usually brings about the increase of land price,
which then leads to the augment of land development cost. In order to make up the huge
investment in land trade, the developers often leave no stone unturned to revise the planning terms
fixed in the detailed control plan in hope of increasing the intensity of real estate development,
which inevitably breaks the expected balance between the development of land-use and
transportation. Moreover, when it is necessary to expropriate non-construction lands for the
construction of a transportation infrastructure, especially a civil road, it is usually done by the
developers who have real estate development projects along the road. This virtually increases the
financial burden of the developers and compels them to search for other alternatives to make up
the extra budget, in particular appealing for revising the planning terms fixed in the detailed
control plan to increase the intensity of real estate development, which would then damage the
expected balance between the development of land-use and transportation. In addition, the current
land supply policy basically treats all construction projects equally without discrimination; no
matter they are transportation infrastructure construction full of public attribution or real estate
developments of private property. It means that, in spite of their public attribute, the construction
projects of transportation infrastructure are endowed with no priority in terms of land supply.
Under the circumstances of market economy, this can neither guarantee the construction of public
utilities including transportation infrastructure, nor assure the capacity of the governments to guide
and control the land market and to orientate the real estate development via the construction of
transportation infrastructures.

56

5.4.3.2 Unreasonable yield distribution of transportation

construction

infrastructure

Even though the transportation infrastructure construction usually has limited economic yield in
itself, it can, through improving the transportation conditions, promote the increase in value of the
lands along or surrounding the transportation infrastructure, thus bringing huge benefits to the real
estate developments concerned. In principle, the benefit increment of real estate development
brought about by transportation infrastructure construction should be partially returned to the
investor of the infrastructure, for either making up the huge cost for or enriching the financial
source of the construction, so as to form a sound circle of investment in transportation
infrastructure construction. Yet till now, as there is no complete tax and toll system regarding the
benefit increment of real estate development, the phenomenon of unreasonable distribution of the
benefit increment of real estate development brought about by transportation infrastructure
construction is quite usual, with most of it being exclusively possessed by the real estate
developers or the proprietors of the lands along or surrounding the transportation infrastructure,
which in a certain sense increases the governments burden of the investment in transportation
infrastructure construction.

5.4.4 Tactical factors influencing balanced development of land-use

and transportation
5.4.4.1 Separated implementation of real estate development and transportation
infrastructure construction
Up to now in Beijing, only few key projects of large-scale urban construction such as Beijing
Economic Development Area, CBD, Financial Street, West Area of Zhongguancun, Olympic
Center are carried out in the mode of park development through unified planning and construction,
achieving the comprehensive development of real estate and transportation at the spatial level of a
certain district; while most of the other projects of real estate development and transportation
infrastructure construction are implemented separately by different developers and constructors at
the spatial level of individual projects which are small in scale and scattered in location. This
implementation mode based on individual project necessarily results in the separation of real
estate development and transportation infrastructure construction in the aspects of distribution,
scheduling and investment as well. It is in favor of neither the integration of real estate
development and transportation infrastructure construction in terms of spatial distribution, i.e. to
particularly strengthen the construction of transportation infrastructures in the areas of intensive
real estate development, nor that in terms of implementation scheduling, i.e. to orientate the
development of real estate via the construction of transportation infrastructures, nor that in terms
of investment arrangement, i.e. to assure the ample investment in transportation infrastructure
construction under the condition of the rising demand of real estate development, thus restricting
to a certain degree the balanced development of land-use and transportation.

5.4.4.2 Separated implementation of road construction without coordination

Regarding road construction, a double-level mechanism is now in effect in Beijing, with the

57

municipal government being in charge of the construction of the civil expressways and trunkroads within the city proper and that of the freeways and first-class highways within in the
municipal territory, while the district governments being in charge of the construction of the civil
sub-trunk-roads and branch-roads, as well as the second-, third- and fourth-class highways within
in the respective territories. Within the limits of the respective functions and powers, the
government of different levels has the authority of programming the assigned road construction in
accordance with the actual situations of the locality, the political ambitions of its own and the
planning regulations concerned, and then, after the comprehensive assignment of Beijing
Municipal Committee of Communications and the examination and approval of the governmental
departments concerned, consigning the constructions to different constructors for substantial
implementation. Even though Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications can make
necessary adjustments in an all-around way regarding the road construction programs put forward
by different governments, this multilateral mechanism of investment and implementation of road
construction considerably inhibits the networking process of road system in both time and space
dimensions, which brings about the negative influences on the functional performance of the road
system. For instance, due to the different level of economic development in different localities, the
governments of different levels and different districts are quite different from each other in terms
of the capacity of investment in road construction. Generally speaking, the municipal government
is obviously stronger than the district governments, while the district government of developed
areas much stronger than that of under-developed areas. This can be clearly seen from the facts of
road construction in Beijing that the development of superior-level roads is more advanced than
that of inferior-roads and the road construction of developed areas is more advanced that that of
under-developed areas. However, the advanced development of superior-level roads or that of the
local road system of developed areas can not lead to the efficient performance of the road system
as a whole; while in contrary, the laggard development of inferior-level roads or that of the local
road system of under-developed areas can badly damage the efficient performance of the road
system as a whole.

5.4.4.3 Separated implementation of public transportation project without

integration
Public transportation is also an integral system which refers to not only the various means of
public transport such as subway, light-rail, trolley bus, bus and so on , but also the service network
of each public transport means mentioned above that is composed of both itineraries and stops.
Only the organic connection among different public transport means and the respective service
networks as well can assure a sage, efficient and convenient public transportation service.
Currently in Beijing, the public transportation is facing also the problem of separated investment,
construction and operation, which exists not only among different transport means, in particular
between the track transport of subway and light-rail and the surface transport of bus and trolley
bus, but also among different itineraries of bus or trolley bus transport. For example, the
implementation of a track transport project is usually programmed by Beijing Municipal
Committee of Communications, invested by Beijing Infrastructure Investment Co., Ltd., a wholly
state-owned enterprise specialized in the business of capital, investment and financing
management, constructed by Beijing Rail Transport Construction Management Co. Ltd., a wholly

58

state-owned enterprise specialized in the business of planning, design and construction

management of track projects, and operated by Beijing Mass Transit Railway Operation Co., Ltd.,
a wholly state-owned enterprise specialized in the business of urban track transportation network.
While the implementation of a bus or trolley bus transport project is usually programmed by
Beijing Transportation Management Bureau or Beijing Public Transport Holdings, Ltd., a wholly
state-owned enterprise specialized in the business of operating surface public transport, and
invested, constructed and operated by either Beijing Transport Holdings, Ltd., or its branch
companies of passenger transport, or Beijing Yuntong Passenger Transport Co., Ltd. which is a
joint stock company specialized in surface passenger transport, or Beijing Bus Joint Stock Co.,
Ltd. which is a share-holding subsidiary of Beijing Transport Holdings, Ltd.. Even though during
the process from programming to construction and then to operation, the authorities of
transportation administration including Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications and
Beijing Transportation Management Bureau could play the role of coordination to a certain extent,
the multilateral implementation of public transportation project under the condition of inefficient
coordination obstructs the integration and networking of the public transportation system,
resulting in the problems of inconvenient exchange, low running efficiency and so on, which badly
influence the functional performance of the public transportation system as a whole.

5.4.5 Other factors influencing balanced development of land-use

and transportation
5.4.5.1 Unbalanced investments in real estate development and transportation
infrastructure construction
Compared with those of real estate development, the projects of transportation infrastructure
construction are usually bigger in construction volume, more complicated in construction
techniques, thus higher in construction cost but lower in direct yield of construction benefit.
Therefore under the circumstances of market economy, the investment sources for the construction
of transportation infrastructures are limited and the investment quantity can not be assured.
Although in recent years, the local governments of different levels of Beijing have won through
the financial difficulties to intensify the investment in the construction of transportation
infrastructures, leading to the sustained increase of total amount, the respective investments in real
estate development and transportation infrastructure construction are still in unbalance under the
condition of the rising upsurge of real estate development. The comparative deficiency of
investment in transportation infrastructure construction restricts to a considerable degree the
balanced development of land-use and transportation.

5.4.5.2 Underdevelopment of land market

Due to the historical and political reasons, there are a huge number of administratively transferred
lands in Beijing till today, the trade of which is not included in the current land administration of
consolidation, rehabilitation, reserve and development, resulting in the multilateral land supply in
the market. Under the condition that the current land administration is mainly the kinds of
procedure administration and price administration, this multilateral land supply weakens the
dominant role of the government in land supplying, as well as that in balancing the development

59

of land-use and transportation through guiding and controlling the land supply market. Moreover
at present, the land supply in Beijing is in the stage of buyers market. Facing the great demand
and the insufficient supply at the same time, the organizations in charge of land consolidation,
rehabilitation and reserve can only do the land purchases passively rather than positively, without
necessary analysis on the conditions of location and transportation of the lands. That is why the
lands put into the market for real estate development are quite scattered in terms of location and no
due consideration is made on the construction of transportation infrastructures, in particular the
influences of track transport construction on real estate development.
Notes:
Special acknowledgement is made here to the program of Balanced Development between Land-use and
Transportation in Beijing of Beijing Institute of Urban Planning & Design and the joint program between Tsinghua
University and British Petrol on Sustainable Urban Mobility for the financial supports to the study. This part has
been published in Chinese in City Planning Review, No. 3, March 2008, and in English in China City Planning
Review, No. 3, September 2008.

60

Table 5.1 Key governmental departments and their key duties concerning balanced development of land-use and transportation: case of Beijing

Authority
Function

Organization

Items of administration and service

Planning management at macro level

Beijing Municipal

Planning the social fixed asset investment

Commission of Development

Drafting the special plans of fixed asset investment

& Reform

for real estate development and dilapidated housing

Examining and approving the governmental

investment projects
Verifying the assigned construction projects without
governmental investments

renovation
Drafting the annual investment programs for

Investment

Technical service at micro level

Verifying the assigned foreign investment projects

governmental investment, key project, land supply

administration

and real estate development

Programming the key projects and planning the layout
Participating in drafting the plans and programs
concerning land-use and transportation
Beijing Municipal

Drafting the city master plan, the district plan, the

Commission of Urban

detailed control plan and the special plans of urban

Planning

planning

Examining the design scheme of construction projects

Checking and issuing the Planning Position Paper on
Project Location for construction projects
Checking, ratifying and issuing the Planning Permit
of Construction Land for construction projects
Checking, ratifying and issuing the Planning Permit

Planning
administration

of Construction for construction projects

Law Enforcement Supervision

Checking, accepting and recording the completed

Division of Beijing Municipal

construction projects in line with urban planning

61

Commission of Urban

terms

Planning
Beijing Municipal Bureau of

Drafting the land-use master plan

Transferring the utilization right of state-owned land

Land & Resources

Drafting the land supplying plan

Approving the transformations of agricultural land to

Draft the annual program of land supply

construction land
Approving the transformations of collective-owned
land to construction land
Examining and approving the transfer of the real
estate projects which get the utilization right of stateowned lands via free transfer
Verifying the land utilization of foreign investment
enterprises
Primarily examining the land utilization of
construction projects

Beijing Land Consolidation &

Land

Rehabilitation Reserve Center

administration

Drafting the special plan of land consolidation and

rehabilitation

Implementing the land consolidation and

rehabilitation projects

Drafting the land reserve and development plan

Implementing the preliminary land developments

Participating in drafting the land supplying plan

Beijing Land Utilization

Providing assistance to Beijing Municipal Bureau of

Center

Land & Resources for checking, ratifying and issuing

the Certificate of State-Owned Land Utilization

Law Enforcement Supervision

Supervising the land utilizations

Division of Beijing Municipal

62

Bureau of State Land and

Resources
Beijing Municipal Committee
of Communications

Drafting the special plans of transportation of urban

planning

evaluation of construction projects

Drafting the five-year plan and the annual program

Beijing Road Administration

Bureau

Checking and ratifying the transportation influence

Examining together with Beijing Municipal

for the construction of roads and affiliated

Commission of Urban Planning the design scheme of

transportation infrastructures

road construction projects

Drafting the annual program for the construction of

the assigned transportation infrastructures

Checking, ratifying and issuing the Construction

Permit for road construction projects
Checking, ratifying and issuing the Permit of
Occupying, Excavating & Deviating Roads for
construction projects
Checking, accepting and recording the completed
road construction projects in line with construction
terms

Transportation

Beijing Transportation

administration

Management Bureau

Planning the layout of public transportation network

Examining and approving together with the other

departments concerned the location and the
adjustment of public transportation itineraries and
stops
Supervising together with the other departments
concerned the assigned utilization of public parking
facilities
Checking, ratifying and issuing the Operation Permit

63

for road passenger transportations

Traffic Enforcement

Examining the scheme of road access of construction

Authority, Beijing Municipal

projects

Public Security Bureau

Beijing Municipal
Construction Committee

Drafting the medium- and long-term plan and the

annual program for building deconstruction
Drafting the medium- and long-term plan for housing
development

Checking, ratifying and issuing the Construction

Permit for construction projects
Checking, accepting and recording the completed
construction projects in line with construction terms

Programming the implementation of key projects

Construction
administration

Beijing Comprehensive
Development Office

Drafting the medium- and long-term plan and the

Providing assistance and service to Beijing Municipal

annual program for the renovation of dilapidated

Construction Committee for the management of real

housing

estate development enterprises

Drafting the medium- and long-term plan and the

annual program for the construction of affordable and
low-rent housing
Note: The organizations in italic are subordinate institutions to the corresponding commissions (or bureaus and committees); the construction projects mentioned here include those of both civil
buildings and transportation infrastructures.
Source: Websites of the governmental departments concerned.

64

Table 5.2 Procedure of construction project administration

Step
Examination

Administrator
1

Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications

and approval

Administration items
Checking and ratifying the
transportation influence evaluation

before
construction

Not necessary for the construction projects of

transportation infrastructure

Beijing Municipal Commission of Development &

Approving or verifying the construction

Examining and approving when there is

Reform

investment

governmental investment
Verifying or recording when there is no
governmental investment
The authority belongs to National Development
& Reform Commission when dealing with the
construction projects of rail transport
In collaboration with Beijing Comprehensive
Development Office when dealing with the
construction projects for real estate trade

Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning

Checking and issuing the Planning

Notes

Position Paper on Project Location

4

Beijing Municipal Bureau of Land & Resources

Primarily examining the land utilization

Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning

Beijing Municipal Committee of

Communications is also involved when dealing
with the construction projects of road

Traffic Enforcement Authority, Beijing Municipal

Public Security Bureau

65

Fire Protection Authority, Beijing Municipal Public

5

Security Bureau

Examining the design scheme

Beijing Municipal Civil Air Defense Office

Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape & Forestry
Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau
Beijing Municipal Earthquake Bureau
Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning

Checking, ratifying and issuing the

Planning Permit of Construction Land

Beijing Land Utilization Center

Checking, ratifying and issuing the

Certificate of State-Owned Land
Utilization

Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning

Checking, ratifying and issuing the

Planning Permit of Construction

Beijing Municipal Construction Committee

Checking, ratifying and issuing the

Construction Permit

7
Beijing Road Administration Bureau

Checking, ratifying and issuing the

Permit of Occupying, Excavating &
Deviating Roads

66

The Construction Permit is checked, ratified and

issued by Beijing Municipal Commission of
Communications when dealing with the
construction projects of road
Only necessary for certain construction projects

Check and
acceptance

Law Enforcement Supervision Division of Beijing

Checking, accepting and recording the

Municipal Commission of Urban Planning

completed construction projects in line

after

with urban planning terms

construction

Beijing Municipal Construction Committee

Checking, accepting and recording the

completed construction projects in line

with construction terms

Traffic Enforcement Authority, Beijing Municipal

Checking, accepting and recording the

Public Security Bureau

completed construction projects

Fire Protection Authority, Beijing Municipal Public

10

respectively in line with specific terms

Security Bureau
Beijing Municipal Civil Air Defense Office
Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape & Forestry
Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau
Beijing Municipal Earthquake Bureau

Note: The construction projects mentioned here include those of both civil buildings and transportation infrastructures.

67

The check, acceptance and record are done by

Beijing Municipal Commission of
Communications when dealing with the
construction projects of road

5.4.6 Proposal
for
Improving
the
Implementation
and
Administration Mechanism of Balanced Development of Land
Use and Transportation in Beijing
It can be seen from the above analysis that the balanced development of land-use and
transportation is a complicated synthetic issue which involves almost all the aspects of land-use
development and transportation construction. Any change in any aspect would bring about the
consequent changes in the other aspects, and finally affect the balanced development between
land-use and transportation. Even though during the specific period of rapid urban construction
and development, the emergence of the unbalanced development between land-use and
transportation is somewhat inevitable, the actual defects of urban governance, implementation
tactic and planning technique exacerbate the conflict. Therefore due efforts should be made, in
hope of establishing the effective mechanism in favor of the balanced development of land-use
and transportation, to set up the goal of balanced development of land-use and transportation and
then systematically reform the urban governance, the implementation tactics and the planning
techniques with regard to the actual defects and problems and with reference to the successful
experience of both domestic and abroad cities.

5.4.6.1 To Improve Urban Governance

(1) Adopting a new thinking and clarifying the responsibilities of urban governance. By setting up
a correct understanding on the significance of balanced development between land use and
transport, the municipal government of Beijing should regard it as a kind of public pursuit which
is as important as the protection of environment and resources, thus including it into the urban
governance goals and making it a common responsibility of all its administrative departments.
(2) Setting up an evaluation system to form the foundation for urban administration, The
administrative departments of Beijing shall take into consideration the actual situations of urban
construction and development in Beijing, by analyzing the relationship between land development
and transport construction and the factors influencing the balanced development of land use and
transportation, to formulate a comprehensive evaluation index system of balanced development of
land use and transportation, and then precise each index either qualitatively or quantitatively, by
collecting and processing the historical data and information concerned, to complete the
comprehensive evaluation system of balanced development of land use and transportation.
(3) Breaking up the departmental separation and changing the administrative mechanism. On
the one hand, the municipal government of Beijing shall further reinforce its role of coordination
among its executive departments via its General Office, so as to establish a multiple-typed
coordination mechanism at the decision-making level of urban governance. While on the other
hand, the executive departments concerned of the municipal government of Beijing shall promote
the regular and institutionalized coordination and cooperation with each other and among its
members by way of information distribution and departmental consultancy. Moreover, the current
traffic impact evaluation system shall be further improved.
(4) Emphasizing the after-completion supervision so as to make up the leaks of the current
urban administration. On the basis of the actual institution of checking, accepting and recording

68

the completed construction projects in line with the terms of urban planning, construction and
other aspects concerned, the supervision and inspection system on the long-term utilization of the
completed construction projects and the land use should be established, so as to reinforce the
administration on the utilization of the completed land development projects to make up the
possible leaks of the current urban administration of Beijing.
(5) Reorganizing the administrative departments in view of long-term development. On the
one hand, the urban administration of Beijing should be transformed from mono-department-based
to multi-department-based and from unilateral to comprehensive. While on the other hand, the
current organization and functions of administrative departments of Beijing should be adjusted
and integrated in line with the demand of balanced development of land use and transportation.
Moreover, the organization and the policies of administrative departments of Beijing should
maintain stable for long term.

5.4.6.2 To Reform Implementation Tactics

(1) Advocating the comprehensive development of land use and transportation based on unified
planning and unified construction. It is suggested to promote the comprehensive development of
land use and transportation in Beijing regarding the areas where construction projects concentrate;
that is, within the areas where there is a comparatively intensive demand for land development and
transport construction, the only organization shall be in charge of planning and development so as
to arrange the land development projects and the transport construction projects as a whole from
the aspects of construction phasing, spatial layout, capital allocation and so on.
(2) Emphasizing the governments intervention to land market with preferential consideration
on public interests. The municipal government of Beijing shall take the charge of reasonably
monitoring the land market of the areas surrounding a transport facilities, imposing a certain part
of the lands being used for the construction projects of public interests which are led by
governments, for example for the construction of economically affordable housing projects, so as
to ensure that more urban population would benefit from the construction of public transport.
(3) Facilitating the integrated development of public transport based on the comprehensive
consideration on planning and operation. On the basis of clarifying the responsibilities of planning
and design, investment and construction and operation and management, the integrated
development of public transport, especially the integrated planning and operation of public
transport shall be facilitated, so as to improve its operation efficiency and service level.
(4) Increasing the investment in transport construction by various taxation and tariff methods.
Different taxes and tariffs shall be adopted to actively develop the capital sources for transport
construction, so as to fully mobilize the social forces to support the development of urban
mobility, especially that of public transport centering on rail transport.

5.4.6.3 To Renovate Planning Technologies

(1) Improving the system and deepening the contents of planning compilation. The system and the
contents of planning compilation shall be adjusted systematically in the following aspects; firstly,
to add the contents concerning the delimitation of the key areas for recent development and

69

construction to the master city plan which has legal binding forces; secondly, to add the contents
of detailed operational planning for the purpose of regulating the actual construction and
implementation to the existing compilation system of urban planning which is mostly composed
of master city planning and detailed regulatory planning; thirdly, taking transport planning as an
indispensable part of master city planning, to compile in a unified way the plan for transportation
development and that for public transport development.
(2) Implementing and improving the institution of multi-layered traffic impact evaluation.
For that, the analysis technologies shall be optimized and the technical team shall be reinforced, so
as to improve the timely effectiveness of the evaluation. Meanwhile, the charge over the traffic
impact evaluation shall be adjusted, being transformed from uniquely covered by the project
developer to commonly shared by the project developer and the municipal government, so as to
reduce the cost burden of the project developer caused by the implementation of the evaluation, as
well as the consequent negative attitude to the evaluation.

5.4.6.4 To Complete Legislation Construction

To sum up, in order to set up the implementation and administrative mechanism in favor of the
balanced development between land use and transport in Beijing, it is necessary to improve the
urban governance, to reform the implementation tactics and renovate the planning technologies, so
as to accomplish the construction of a series of systems concerning organization, policy and
methodology, for which the legislation construction concerned will provide with solid legal
foundation. As an administrative territory endowed with legislative power, the Municipality of
Beijing shall pay attention to local legislation so as to provide with legal support and guarantee for
the institutional construction in favor of the balanced development of land use and transportation.

5.5 New Technologies and Methods on Realizing a Harmonious

Urban Spatial Development
5.5.1 Technologies and Methods about Spatial Information
In recent years, the urban spatial planning and research methods gradually change from original
qualitative to the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, incorporating at the same
time such technologies of mathematics, IT, remote sensing, remote metering, GIS (Geographic
Information System) engineering, and GPS (Global Positing System), among which SIT (Spatial
Information Technology) centering on 3S technologies (RS, GIS, GPS) serves as an effective tool
for the spatial analysis for the purpose of city planning and research, the analysis of the correlation
between space and property, and especially for spatial simulation, making the planning more
scientific, practical and feasible. One particular issue that should be noted is that, as the pioneering
GIS technology, space syntax further improves the application of GIS technology in mediumscope and micro-scope spatial researches.

70

5.5.2 Space Syntax Theory

Space syntax is a spatial research theory based on objective analysis and empirical research; it
focuses on the overall relationship among different urban spatial forms, supports the setting up of
urban morphology model based on the powerful simulation and analysis functions of computer by
adopting graph theories and methods, which makes it possible to further explore the topological
relation and structural features of urban space. Syntactical theory provides solid and feasible
theoretical foundations as well as methods and procedures for studying the complicated urban
forms; it also enables a practical and feasible exploration on integrating mobility planning and
land use planning.

5.5.2.1 Basic principles about syntactical theory

As for the research on cities, space syntax is a branch of newly rising network science and the
researchers tend to take the space as an inter-related network so as to reveal the relationship
between urban spatial structure and functions. According to B Hillier (1984, 1998, 2007), the
space is a media between the material form of city and social activities of people, and city space is
a continuous and integrated network. In syntactical model, the space is divided into two parts:
objects in space and free space, the latter is the space where people can move and perceive freely
with the property of continuity, and syntax focuses on the expression of this free space. In this
network composed of free space, the changes of any partial space will change the relationship
among all other partial space, and the changed partial space will affect all other partial spaces
through the integrated structure of city space; the complicated correlation existing among different
partial space is known as the configuration of spatial network and similar to the term syntax in
linguistics. Spatial syntax actually matches our unconscious ways of using and configuring space.
The properties of city spatial network can be shown by a series of axes, which have dual
connotations of individual visual perception (the scope of individual perception on part of city
space) and movement trend (the nature of movement is linear). The entire city spatial system can
be covered by the least and the longest axes, that is, an axis defined map can be used to construct
the spatial structure of a city. Axial map is the representation based on the actual geometrical form
of city space and network relationship and can be taken as the abstraction and extraction of urban
mobility network. While different axis parameters, such as integration level, apprehensibility
degree, degree of depth, and continuity, provide quantitative measurement on city spatial features.
Syntax-based researches analyze the structural forms through a large amount of case studies
on city space (Hillier & Hanson 1996, 1998, 2003, 2007; Peponis et al. 1996, 1998, 2003;
Desyllas et al. 2000, 2003, 2007) before comparing the activities and functions they observed.
After eliminating all kinds of interfering factors, researchers found that space structure is
obviously correspond with the activities in the space, and in most cases, where syntax integration
degree and apprehensibility degree are high, there are more traffic flows (people and vehicle).
Syntax-based theory explains in details that the gathering of city buildings and intrinsic
mathematical rules will form city spatial form network and, with the application of configuration
model, it will reflect and affect people and vehicle flow model, which will then affect the model of
land use and ultimately social configuration and activities that will in turn affect and decide the
process of building gathering and the evolution of city spatial form network. This is a dynamic

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process.

5.5.2.2 Explanation of city with syntactical theory

Syntax serves as a spatial discourse that can be used to provide quantitative description of city
model structure and a discourse that can provide in-depth explanation of the nature and functions
of city space. Many case studies successfully prove the correctness and importance of syntaxbased theories on the understanding and simulating of city space (Hiller et al. 1996, 1998, Jiang
2000, 2002, Desyllas et al.2000, Read 2002, Douglas 2003, Batty 2004).
City is a complicated self-organized space system under the long-term impact of social
and economic factors, and during the long coupling process of main elements, material space and
its social functions have undergone complicated and inter-related correlation and interaction,
resulting finally in a coordinated interacted subsystem. Therefore, the analysis on material space
with social properties can decode the internal functional structure of material space.
The street space within visible scope will direct the intention of main body social
activities1, therefore, the longest street within the perceptible scope of the main body will serve as
the basic unit for space syntax analysis, that is, the axis. Inside a city, there is an intrinsic structural
relation among different axes and a common rule for different cities can be got through analyzing
the intrinsic structure of topologic space in a city.
A city can be taken as the movement economy 2 with the impact of form structure, and
syntax-based theory explains the relationship between city function and form. It uses models to
analyze spatial forms and studies whether the form corresponds with the function (expressed in
social and economic elements); for example, through the analysis of relationship between space
and traffic flow (people and vehicle), syntax can help to find out the relations among them, while
the traditional traffic models dont get specific spatial forms involved in the study.
Therefore, a quantitative analysis becomes possible with the help of space syntax theory on
the topologic structure of a city, and scholars can also analyze relevant parameters by getting city
spatial axis parameters with the help of GIS-based model software to further explore the city form
structure, to reveal spatial form structure, and the interaction mechanism between traffic
movement and land use model so as to find ways to achieve harmonious spatial development in
the city.
The following is a case analysis based on the city of Beijing and explains in details the actual
application of space syntax theory in the studies of harmonious spatial development and
sustainable mobility in cities.

5.5.3 An Empirical Research on Space Syntax of Beijing

Beijing as a city has a history of more than 3,000 years, and has functioned as capital for more

Environmental psychology believes that people are always interested in perceptible space, especially those
functional unites existing in visible space scope, and they will tend to move along the visible space till they enter
next visible street space, which produces social movement of people flow through the direction of material space
of streets. This is how social movement function and functional space is created (such as shopping mall, square,
market, and church).
2
Movement economy is a concept derived from natural movement, a distribution of movement decided by the
spatial form structure of a city.
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than 850 years. What makes Beijing distinctive among the world cities are its dual characteristics
of traditional grace and modern charm. On the one hand, it is the center of political, historical and
cultural activities and the central node of international connections with an urban population of
more than 15 million. On the other hand, it is a famous ancient capital in the world, and abundant
in traditional heritage. As one of the metropolises in China, Beijings urban character and function
have significant effects on urban spatial evolution, which makes the development pattern of
Beijing differ from other Chinese cities to some extent.
Under the background of wide discussion and prediction about Beijings development, this
paper will aim to understand the change of urban form of Beijing city during its evolution from a
spatial network perspective, and further analyze the gradual development mode of urban
functions. The subject has been partly inspired by recent concerns for reconsidering Beijings
evolutive process and its principles of development raised by the fast expansion of urban space in
recent decades. Those concerns involve calling for the architectural profession to elaborate on the
physical development of the city, taking into account the underlying cultural pattern of its territory,
paying attention to the protection of its historical and cultural inheritance and the transition of its
functional entities from a global view.
Within the spatial layout of a city, the city centre is quite essential for urban functional model,
but possibly the most difficult to understand due to various building forms and miscellaneous
functions of a city centre. Therefore, another aim of the paper is to investigate whether the
functional convergence of city centers directly relates to their spatial configuration.
Based on previous practices under the framework of space syntax theory, quantitative
analysis and comparative research are integrated in the research. Space syntax is just such a space
language to describe urban form and structure in a quantitative way and to help interpret the
essence and functions of buildings and cities space. Syntactic analysis has proved to be a valid
tool to understand urban layout, which influences the evolution of land use and activity patterns of
a city through their effects on movement flows. The advantage of the method chosen is that they
make it possible to reveal the functionality of urban system systematically and objectively only by
analyzing urban spatial structure.

5.5.3.1 Data and Methodology

In the light of the main framework, the research explores the evolution process of Beijing from a
diachronic perspective. In order to explain the evolution of urban space, we compare the maps of
syntactical analysis in different years, in which the structure and the evolution of the old central
city are clearly shown and its difference from the surrounding urban structure is outstanding.
Moreover, some social and economical archives and documents are reviewed and analyzed in the
research. Historical maps of Beijing city in 1982, 1993 and 2003 are mainly used as axial maps to
represent the urban grid and to expound its configuration. Radius_n(global integration)and
Radius_3 (local integration) are taken for the syntactical analysis of all the axial maps and each
axial line is analyzed with the same radius so as to minimize the dispersing tendency (edge-effect)
of the edges of spatial system and optimize the global analysis of urban space. This analysis
suggests that each axial line is analyzed at the same radius, and thus the globality of the analysis is
maximized while the tendency that the edges of the system have towards segregation (edge-effect)

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is minimized (Hillier, 1996).

Having analyzed the historical spatial evolution of Beijing city, the study focuses on mapping
what is known as the functional pattern. As far as the land use is concerned, the administrative, the
cultural and the commercial function are emphasized for Beijing as a metropolis, which are related
to the governmental policy to some extent. The retail industry and marketing are also identified as
major city functions, which are strongly connected to the concept of a living centre and bound
up with natural movement. The latter are distinguished from the main central administration
function of Beijing, in terms of the specific spatial conditions required and the developed spatial
environment that the conditions generate. Hence, all the external functional patterns like retail,
commerce, administration and culture, are employed in this study.

5.5.3.2 Syntactical Analysis: methods and findings

Syntactical characteristics are analyzed to try to discover syntactic difference between the systems
in different years by virtue of integration of lines, as discussed successfully in some previous
studies (Irini, 2003). Generally axial map analysis includes the global integration radius_n( Rn) and
the local integration radius_3. Radius_n( R3) could represent the degree of convergence and
dispersancy of axial lines and other types of space in a system, while radius_3 is applied to
comprehend the local grid, which can be indicative for the living centre of a settlement region.
Since the study has drawn upon the evolution functional pattern of Beijing, its spatial pattern was
analyzed as a continuous system. The syntactic analysis of different years has shown that there are
some syntactic differences among these years, which are better described by the measures of
syntax. Some tables (Table 5.3) and scattergrams (Figure 5.3, 5.5, 5.6) show the change of
syntactic parameters throughout Beijings evolution process monitored in the research. The axial
maps of the three chosen city plans were investigated to draw geometric and topological properties
and logical structural transition of urban space at different times. These geometric characteristics
of urban space configuration are consistently reflected in syntactic maps.
Table 5.3 Syntactical parameter of Beijing
Mean
global
integration

Mean
local

Mean

Depth

Rn

Mean Depth

Mean Conn

R3

integrati
on

1981

1.293

1.779

8.165

2.531

3.218

1993(old city)

1.297

1.772

7.907

2.535

3.185

1993

1.171

1.711

9.094

2.509

3.085

2003

1.098

1.728

9.269

2.418

3.027

The axial model of 1982 appears to be griddy and displays very clear urban venation
(Figure 5.2). The primary configuration of Beijing is formed by the east-west axis and the southnorth axis both of which begin from the Forbidden City. Urban structure is endowed with rigorous
geometrical form, and the former main south-north axis divided symmetrically the city into two
parts. That is to say, the spatial properties and its expression of the historic monarchic city are
imprinted continually in the urban space of Beijing. The fabric of traditional Hutong is showed
legibly on the axial map 1982. As a particular identity of Beijing city, Hutong space contributes to

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create a fine grained, well connected, and diverse urban fabric for the traditional neighborhoods of
Beijing. Most of Hutongs concentrate relatively in the north of the Forbidden City within the inner
city (old city). The perpendicular intersection of urban spatial order terminates at the Hutong area,
and the regular road network is decomposed into the labyrinthic bystreets. From the axial map, the
fabric of Beijing presents a kind of dualism, on the one hand there are clear urban axes and the
main street network (the light axes in the map), on the other hand there are anfractuous microstructure in the residential area (the dark axes in the map). From the point of view of urban
transportation, the city lacked of urban trunk roads in the west-to-eastern direction through the
city. The close courtyard of the Forbidden City segments the street system to some extent and
influences the integrity of the street system. Furthermore, the spatial difference between the
northern part and the southern part of the city is displayed explicitly on the axial map. The degree
of integrity of the northern city is higher than that of the southern city, but the intelligibility and
cooperativity in the local space of the northern part is worsen than that of the southern part.
The radius_n integration analysis of Beijing in 1982, shown in Figure 5.3, has suggested that
its inner city is the expansion of the radius_n integration core. The axial map comprises many
short lines ending at other lines, which is found both locally and globally. The radius_n integrators
highlighted are not only the dominant integrators, but almost the longest lines. For example,
Changan street, is located in the middle of the city and transverses the whole city.

Wangfujing street

Xidan street

Forbidden City
Changan street
Qianmen street

Figure 5.12: The Axial Map in 1982 Showing Global Integration Pattern

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Figure 5.13 Scattergrams showing the correlation between integration and

connectivity (intelligibility) in 1982
Beijings urban area has expanded greatly in the 1990s (Figure 5.4) because of the
development demand of city itself and the influence of China reform and open policy at that time.
The spatial change of Beijing could be presented by comparing the axial maps of 1982 and 1993
during the past ten years. Although the built up area had been growing, the structure of the old city
was maintained because of the urban development mode of concentric circles. The structure of the
old core consisted of some main streets existing for several hundreds years such as Chang an
street, Wangfujing street and Xidan street, has been the dominant integrators whether in the global
or local structure. At the same time, some areas in the old city lost their effects gradually at a
global scale and transformed into local centers. From a holistic perspective, the pattern of typical
single centre in Beijing was presented distinctly, compared to the urban configuration in 1980s.
And the courtyard configuration emerges in the syntactical map which was a special spatial form
at the Development Stages of Chinese Socialism. The contemporary settlements around the old
city seemed to have grown under the different rules from those formed in the old city. Thus, the
axial lines outside the old core have inconsistent geometrical features with those of the old core.
However, the old center had a weak connection with the surrounding grid. The old and the
new grid were mainly connected through several ring roads and radial roads.
Compared with the axial maps of Beijing in 1982, one can notice that between 1980s and
1990s the axial density decreased in the old city, and the global integration and the intelligibility
of the old city increased because of the disappearance of part of the labyrinthic Hutong (Figure
5.5). Nevertheless, the global integration and the intelligibility of the axial map in 1993 decreased
in the whole city (Figure 5.5), and it means the whole city had grown more and more complex and
unintelligible in terms of spatial configuration and way-finding performance with the increase of
city size.

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Figure 5.14 Axial Map in 1993 Showing Global Integration Pattern

Figure 5.15 Scattergrams showing the correlation between integration and

connectivity (intelligibility) of the whole city in 1993
The development of Beijing in 2000s decelerated in some sort compared with in 1990s. There
are some reasons for this phenomenon and one of important reasons may be the macro-control
policy of the central government on land use. The syntactic map (Figure 5.6) of Beijing in 2003
shows that urban space was maintained and almost intensified its development pattern of typical
single centre, though the global topological structure was presented as a form of radiate wheel
(Yang, 2006). From the analysis result of urban structure and the local-global relationships based
on the analysis map in 2003, we found that the centre of integration, the distribution of integration
and the part-whole interrelationship kept least change as well as the spatial difference between the

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southern and northern parts of the urban system. It is suggested that the spatial pattern of Beijings
historical core of was hold and further the basic framework of the old city was preserved and
continued. The analysis map also demonstrates such a trend of the change in both morphological
and configurational measures that morphological simplification results in a incremental process
rather than sudden changes. As to micro-structure, the spatial transformation of the old city in
Beijing, weakens not only the hierarchy of traditional space elements, but makes them
considerably more secluded in the whole spatial system. Especially, Hutong fabrics in the
historical core was seriously destroyed, and the spatial extent was enlarged much greatly than
before. In the whole city space, many small circular roads located between the central radiate
streets and the main ring roads (the third and the fourth ring roads) have enriched the city
structure. Some of the main ring roads have evolved into the new axes of Beijing city. However,
what seems to be interesting regarding the contemporary settlements is that the living centre of
the urban settlement remains within the old city, the historic core of the city, which comprises
more short axial lines intersecting obliquely than the outside grid does. Other long and strong
axes, such as Changan Street with its prolonged line and Xidan Street with its prolonged line etc,
connect the old city and the new settlement areas. The most intuitive geometric differences
explained by the characteristics also lead to different syntactic values, which reflect the degree of
strong or weak relations of all parts in the urban system. The dualism of Beijing citys fabric
demonstrated in the syntactic map continued in 2003. On the one hand, the trunk axes of the
whole city that form the urban basic configuration are of high integration comparatively, and on
the other hand there are some short labyrinth-like axes of low integration in the new settlements. It
is suggested that those new settlements outside the old city have been connected well with the
wide roads around, but the inner structures within them are quite complex.

Figure 5.16 Axial map in 2003(Yang, 2006) showing Global Integration pattern

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According to space syntax theory, spatial configuration is a reflection of social inputs and
configurational differences between structures resulting in spatial analysis are affected by social
ideology or policy. The spatial decisions of urban network explored in such studies should be
embedded in the logics of understanding and planning city and further city reforms. The
morphological analysis on the central areas of Beijing city reviewed in this paper allowed to
extract many of the features which can summarize the difficulties and compatibility issues
encountered by the old city.

5.5.3.3 Functional Analysis: methods and findings

Having analyzed the spatial structures of Beijing during its evolution process, the study focuses on
what its functional patterns are and how they transformed or remained almost unchanged over
time. Due to limited historical data, the study attempts to investigate the functional aspects of
urban centrality and living centrality, to map the locations of different categorized buildings,
like administrative, cultural, commercial buildings, bank and retails shops. Only the distribution of
land uses in Beijing city in 1981 and 2003 is studied, since there was no clear evidence of the
functional pattern during the 1990s.
The functional analysis of Beijing has shown that the old city remains its dominant and
significant role in terms of urban functions and life. The old core has been the main area
aggregating urban functions for several centuries since the Ming and Qing Dynasty. According to
historical records in the 15th century, the administrative centre, todays Forbidden city, co-existed
with the living centre of the city and both were developed along the same axial lines.
Meanwhile, the living centre of Beijing in 1980s, remains inside the old core and is developed
around the historical focal point, and this could be presented in the syntactical map. This kind of
distribution of urban functions is influenced by the policy of central government of the time
(Figure 5.7). As a metropolis, the dominant function of Beijing is its political function which could
be revealed in the city layout. The national administrative center Zhongnanhai is almost located in
the citys geometrical centre. Some important governmental and commemorative large-scale
buildings (such as The Palace of the People, National Historical Museum and many ministries)
surround the Tiananmen Square, one of the most famous but the biggest central congregation
square for people in the world. Many other administrative and cultural buildings and banks were
arranged along the strong lines, i.e., Changan Street which is one of the main axes of urban
structure and the main artery in citys transportation system, and has the highest global and local
integration. It is accordant with Hilliers theory that the syntactical axes with the highest global
and local integrator value are of the strongest function of social activity in the city. There are lots
of industries distributed dispersedly in the old city, some of which belong to contaminative
industry. The commercial land uses do not gather in a large scale, but scatter in different parcels,
namely unit yard. This phenomenon could be explained primarily by the influence of
governmental planned economy at that time. And the unit yard is essentially a living unit primary
for people working in one big organization and provides people with all daily facilities including
commerce, education, entertainment. The mixed land-use of administration, retail, commerce,
residence and industry is the typical land-use pattern for Beijing of that time. Although the
function pattern of Beijing in 1980 showed the profound mark of socialistic governmental policy
to some extent, it could still be explained by the movement economy theory from the point of

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view of the whole city.

Figure 5.17 Land Use Map of Beijing in 1981. The darker (red) area is the
concentration of administrative land uses in the central district
The function pattern of Beijing in 1990 was intensified. Its living centre was still located in
the old city. Those most important buildings, such as administrative buildings, cultural buildings
and banks, were still located on Changan Street along with some commercial buildings and
tourist shops. Changan Street remained to be the main axis that connected the living centre of
the city and was of the historical and political significance. Urban economy developed rapidly by
virtue of the governmental reform at the beginning of 1990s and some commercial streets were
developed along with the economic development. For example, Wangfujing, the traditional street
has been reconstructed successfully which is located in the global integrator of Beijing. Other
important commercial streets, such as Xidan Street and Qianmen Street, have also been developed,
which retain their high integration and significance during urban evolution. What is significant to
the functional pattern of Beijing in the 1990s is the fact that there were still streets along which the
functions related to the centre were developed, despite the tendency became more centralized in
shape due to the intensification of the grid that occurred in and around its centre during its
evolution process.
According to the industrial policy of the market economy at the beginning of 1990s, a
majority of industry has been transferred out of the old city and these central districts of high
integration have been occupied gradually by the third industry which requires favorable area for
their development. For some important national and civil building projects have been positioned in
the northern city, such as Yayun Village located besides the northern third ring, the difference
between the northern and southern part still exists and has a tendency to be intensified. The
integration core of the whole city maintains stabilized comparatively in the 2000s. By comparing
with the axes of global integrator of Beijing in different years, it is found that some main axes are
of high integration all the time which forms the integration core, such as Changan Street,

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Wangfujing Street and Xidang Street. And they are of the core functions of Beijing city, and they
bear many important functions and social activities (Figure 5.8). The old city has been occupied
by the land use of the third industry including commerce, culture, information industry, which
becomes the dominant function in addition to administration in urban core.
Although the scope of urban space has expanded continuously and the built-up area has gone
beyond the boundary of the central city, the primary urban centre functions are still kept in the
central city. It means that the core functions of the city did not decentralized with the development
of new settlements around the periphery of the old city, but intensified within the extent of the city
center. This resulted in the demands for the development of heavy density and intensity in the
heart of the city, thus led to the spatial exploitation in three-dimensions including the utilization of
urban land use, underground space and space on air. The old city, incorporated into multi-purpose
and multi-functional complexes, has become more complex in spatial three-dimension with the
increase of size and functional diversity. The current development tendency has been shown to be
in conflict with preserving the old city. The function of some main streets with high integration
has been changed because of the movement of urban network during the evolvement. On the one
hand, the scale of the centre function is beginning to expand from the old city to the third ring, and
on the other hand, some streets of global integrator are strengthened or weakened. An example is
the Longfusi Street, whose declining process has to be understood in a large context. Instead,
Wangfujing Street has occupied far more strategic location, which is one topological step from
Changan Street, and become a flourishing commercial center with a combination of multiple
networks including metro system. Along with some ring and radiate roads being built, the
syntactic map shows that the original tree-structure pattern of integration core has turned gradually
into the wheel pattern of integration core. It means that these new built roads have evolved into the
main axes of high integration with important functions. And the integration is distributed along the
newly constructed arteries either hosting representative functions or encircling micro-districts,
breaking the organically evolved shape of a deformed wheel described by Hiller (2001).
Furthermore, similar to other socialist plans for sub-areas, the new development areas in the
city, containing administrative buildings and other facilities for recreation, education, health and
commerce, are more segregated and less possible to function as a generator of local movement
economy, which goes against planners initial intentions. With a global view to look at land use
pattern in urban space, the distribution of land use is strongly related to the pattern of integration
in Beijing. The map of the standard land price for commerce shows that the highest land price is
located in the Changan Street, Wangfujing and Xidan Street, which are all within the integration
core. There is a tendency that land price falls from urban center to urban periphery in accordance
with the representation of the syntactic theory. The relation between spatial structure and land use
could be explained by the role of movement patterns generated by the morphology of the urban
grid.

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Figure 5.18 Land Use Map of Beijing in 2003. The darker (red) area is the
concentration of administrative and commercial land uses.
It is worth mentioned that the development of the old city in Beijing becomes one substantial
part of the settlements of the whole city. Its significance in term of the functions of the whole city
can be traced to its history, the interrelationship and the intensification of urban grid, which have
happened during the last decades. Beijing has expanded greatly during the 20th century. The
morphology of the grid of the old city is clearly different from that of the new part of the city. The
historical core is connected to the new city through the ring roads and radiate roads which have
been constructed in recent years. In conclusion, the study suggests that it is the citys size, density,
and its connections to the new city that cause the historical core in Beijing to function as a city
within a city. During the urban evolution, there are also other characteristics in the old city,
which substantiate the influences of spatial structure on the fate of historic cores. Retail activity,
for instance, shows a strong dependence on the integration value of urban spaces. Therefore, when
the traditional structure is preserved, the important traditional spaces remain economically viable.
But when the old structure is destroyed, the preservable spaces may lose their economic
significance and consequently, lose their viability to be productive.
In Beijing, as mentioned earlier, in further development and the newly opened street revealed
as the most integrated space by the axial analysis were occupied by administrations, commerce,
banking sectors and public spaces, proposing that as an active space, which is similar with the
study in most cities in the world. Such a hypothesis could be further analyzed if more old land use
maps could be constructed according to written evidence, which was not possible within the time
frame of this paper. And if proven correct support the proposal that, the old city grew maximizing
the spatial conditions for the functioning of the productive area of the city, using space properly.

5.5.3.4 Discussion and conclusion

The study has tried to pinpoint the evolution of Beijing in terms of its functional and spatial
patterns. The spatial analysis has revealed that Beijing followed some rules of growth, which was
reflected in the morphology of its grid, manifested by the syntactical analysis of contemporary

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settlements. The syntactic analysis of Beijing in several years showed that its old city has retained
its significance as a focal point of the city. The grid inside the inner city is part of the extensive
integration core of the whole city. Having been built around the old city, the ring roads have been
evolved gradually as important axes of the whole city. As some scholars have pointed out in the
studies of other cities, the change of Beijing is not only in the morphological shape but also in the
spatial significance of the parts of the city to the rest of it, a phenomenon of urban evisceration,
the integration cores having to rely on trans-spatial means of attraction. Syntactic measures have
additionally concurred to the diagnosis of un-intelligibility of the city centre and of the city as a
whole. During the evolution of Beijing, the old city is becoming more intelligible to strangers,
whereas the whole city is becoming more unintelligible. Spatial patterns have been suggestive for
the functional patterns. The function pattern of Beijing during the decades from the 1980s to the
2000s describes the old city as the place where the urban buzz is located. Unlike other historical
cities, Beijing retains its historical core as its main functional core, and also its living center.
Though the development of Beijing has been influenced by socialistic governmental policy in
China, the functional core that is still associated strongly with natural movement was described by
the integration analysis of Beijing during its evolvement. This true-to life spatial pattern seems to
have been very suggestive for the functional and current movement patterns of the city.
The study in this paper shows that if in an organically development city spatial configuration
had the essential role of providing a necessary basis for the functioning of the city as an
economically sustainable centre, socialist modernization and urbanization caused a power
relationship between centre and servant local structures, where the ideology is the force that
overcomes space as generator of social interface. In light of the present study and in the context of
previous known concerns as the competition launched having as a subject the development of the
city centre, it could be stated that the citys structure needs to and could be improved and
particularly, local strategies may be developed to support the global supergrid structure. According
to the studied cases regarding the centrality of the new canters it was conclude by Jiang and
Peponis (2005) that a logic of evolution applied equally to planned centrality and emergent district
centrality, includes further fragmentation of the system. For Beijing, the study is worth of being
referenced for building multi-centre in urban space. It also could be concluded that a finer scale of
the grid closer to the neighboring central structure might be beneficial.
With the growing concerns about the sustainability of urban environments in an urbanizing
world for Beijing, the conservation for the old city is another very important problem. Space
syntax has been presented as a new approach to the concept of urban conservation by prioritizing
the issue of urban context and spatial transformation. Urban conservation in recent decades has
been more attracted toward dynamic conservation which aims to preserve the physical
characteristics of the old cores as the focal point of history, polity and culture in the modern cities
as well as the centre for creating life, activity and social-economic viability. Thus conservation is
not only about the individual building and places and it is more about the relationship between the
spatial components of urban system. The essence of these relationships, the spatial spirit is an
invisible power which controls the organization and utility of the historic core (Karimi, 1999). For
the development of Beijing in the future, a very important step is protecting the unique spatial
system of the old city, or the spatial spirit, which creates the relationship among the component
and functions of the urban system. The important lesson from history is that before engaging in

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any detailed process of conservation, a basic knowledge of the spatial harmony between the past
and present is needed, otherwise the past loses it logic, and consequently its viability to be
conserved, or the new cannot find its appropriate place to function.

5.6 Model Analysis on Harmonious Urban Spatial Development

Urban model is a way to summarize and simplify the test and exploration of how a city develops
and operates a series of actual goals and phenomena; it can be used to express and describe in a
mathematic way the spatial phenomena and processes in a city, and its features is to give up details
but to focus on the entire spatial phenomenon process in an abstract way. The establishing of a
urban model involves following processes: (1) to define the connotation and denotation of the
subject investigated; (2) to conduct theoretical analysis and to propose conceptual model; (3) to
further abstract based on the conceptual model and to propose mathematical model; (4) to
construct application system based on the mathematical model and to conduct empirical test, so as
to achieve the effective simulation and predict on the process of city growth, the evaluation on the
effect of planning scheme, and the optimization of strategy. As a specific application of s system
engineering theory, the construction of city model provides a scientific and rational foundation for
the harmonious spatial development in cities.

5.6.1 Urban Population Analysis Models

City spatial structure is the reflection of all social and economic activities in the space, where
people are producers and at the same time consumers too. The factor of population is one of the
most active factors during the evolution of city spatial structure, and the changes of urban
population (density and distribution) will inevitably have profound impact on the general pattern
of city industries and material forms.

5.6.1.1 Urban Population Density and Distribution Model

Clark Model (Negative Exponent Model)
In 1951, Clark studied the population density and spatial distribution in more than 20 cities
and concluded that the father from the downtown area, the lower density of population, and the
population density is in negative correlation with distance, to which following mathematical
formula applies:

d x d 0e bx
In the above formula, dx refers to the population density in the place x away from the downtown
area, d0 refers to the population density in downtown area, x refers to the distance away from the
downtown area, b is constant. In general, the bigger b is, population density is higher in downtown
area, and population density reduces greatly along the increase of distance. b is lower, indicating
that the population density in downtown area is low, people tend to be distributed away from the
downtown area and population distribution becomes more even. With the passing of time and the
increase of urban population size, b will gradually drop.

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 Tanner, Sherratt Model and Smeed Model

In early 1960s, Tanner and Sherratt proposed separately a new urban population density
model with following mathematic formula:

d x d 0e cx

In the formula, c is constant, and the meaning of other signs is the same as the model proposed by
Clark.
At the same time, Smeed proposed another exponential function model with following
mathematic formula:

d x kx a
In the formula, k is scale coefficient, and a is the parameter of distance. Smeed Model doesnt
define the population density in downtown area and is more suitable for describing the population
density and distribution rules in urban fringe and hinterland areas.
Newlings Quadric Exponential Model
With the development of cities, the phenomenon of population suburbanization becomes
increasingly prominent, and population distribution pattern also changes, with the point mostly
densely populated moving away from the downtown area, where theres a population density gap.
In 1969, Newling and some scholars proposed to replace the linear variable in Clark Model with
quadratic curve and proposed so-called Quadric Exponential Model, whose formula is as follows:

d x d 0ebx cx

b and c are constants, and the meaning of other signs is the same as the model proposed by Clark
and Sherratt. Its obvious that Newling tried to integrate the models of both Clark and Sherratt, for
when c=0 and b<0, its Clark Model; when b=0 and c>0, its Sherratt Model.

Figure 5.19 3D Urban Population Density Distribution

With experimental verification by other scholars, these models reflect in certain degree the
features of population distribution changes in different stages during the process of urban growth,
namely, in early stage, middle stage, and late stage of urban development.

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5.6.1.2 Urban population prediction models

Population prediction means to use forecasting technologies or methods to predict future
population data on the basis of current population size, aiming to propose reasonable requirements
on controlling future population growth under assumptions (or parameters). A reasonable
prediction on population has vital significance on city planning and on sustainable and
harmonious spatial growth. A scientific and accurate prediction on population directly decides on
the appropriateness and applicability of planning scheme. Apart from commonly used population
natural growth method, linear regression method, and moving average method, there are also grey
prediction method and Song Jian population forecast model.
Grey prediction method
Grey systems theory names the variables being affected by many factors and whose
complicated relations are hard to define the grey quantitative. In order to predict grey quantitative,
it is required to find useful information from time series, to set up and to use model so as to
recognize internal rules before making prediction. The grey system prediction model is set up
through generation module of accumulating time series, eliminating random quantity possibly
merged into the original series, and finding certain hidden rules from fluctuating time series. The
urban land use planning usually adopts the simplest grey model (1, 1) for population forecast.
Song Jian population forecast model
Population growth equation set up by Song Jian population forecast model is a dynamic
prediction method and dynamic factors include the birth, death of different gender and age groups.
The advantages of this model is that it gets the leading factors affecting population growth (birth,
death, moving), reflecting the rules of reproduction, and the basic data adopted (age, gender,
population, mortality rate of certain age group, fertility rate of women) has been based on census
information, therefore enjoying high degree of accuracy. Since it also takes into consideration of
fertility models on actual fertility rate, its setting up of prediction variables and parameters is more
thoughtful and more complete.
(3) Analysis on Urban Population in Beijing
On the basis of above-mentioned population analysis models and historical census data in
Beijing, scholars simulated and analyzed the spatial difference of population growth and features
of population spatial distribution form changes. According to the research, in recent years, the
urban population in Beijing is distributed in a pattern of Southeast-Northwest (Figure 5.10),
showing that the population grows faster in the direction, especially in southeast, which is in
accordance with the urban growth of the city. In terms of population spatial distribution density, it
drops in places away from the downtown area (Figure 5.11). Although the tendency of
suburbanization of urban population remains to be restricted in suburban areas, yet the speed
becomes faster, and both population growth and spatial gathering have moved to exurb areas,
population becomes increasingly scattered and its distribution tends to be even.

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a Population Growth in 1998-2002

b Population Growth in 2002-2006

c Population Growth in 1998-2006

Figure 5.20 Population Distribution Changes in Beijing

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Figure 5.21 Population Density in Beijing (Unit: Person/Square Kilometers)

5.6.2 City Structure Analysis Models

City spatial structure is a compound city regional form combining population changes, economic
function distribution, social space types and other main elements created with certain economic
and social background and basic development driving force.
(1) Urban Ecology Model
Earliest research on urban space can be dated back to above-mentioned three typical models
on city spatial structure, namely, the concentric ring model of Chicago Sociology School (Burgess,
1925), the fan-shaped model (Hoyt, 1939), and the multi-centered model (Harris & Ullman, 1945).
The other typical ecological model is the famous central place theory proposed by German urban
geographer W Christaller and economist A Losch in 1930 and 1940 respectively. The theory is
based on static partial balance theory and describes the spatial distribution model of central place
under the impact of market, traffic, and administrative factors.
(2) Urban Economics Model
Urban land use is the carrier and external represent form of urban spatial structure, urban
economics is based on neoclassical economics and explains the spatial distribution and evolution
process of urbanization land from the perspective of achieving the maximum economic interest;
this is a process of obtaining land in certain location through competition. Alonso (1964) Model is
a representative in micro-economics study of city land use and spatial structure; and the spatial
distribution model of this type of city land use is the result of numerous land users balancing
among land cost and location cost (that is, transport cost) and seeking the maximum interest, and
can be shown with several competition curves (refer to Figure 5.12).

Source: Paul M Torrens, 2002

Figure 5.22 Spatial Distribution Model of Location, Rend and Land Use
(3) Social Physics Model
This types of city models are based on the physics models of Newtonian mechanics, among
which the most outstanding one is spatial interaction model, including spatial scattering model,
declining rules by distance, gravity model, and potential model. Gravity model introduces the

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theory of gravity by Newton to measure the degree of interaction between two cities; while
potential model introduces Newtons formula on potential energy to conclude on the probability or
opportunity of inter-city interaction. Lowry proposed in 1964 the Pittsburgh Model, which is a big
breakthrough in the research of urban spatial structure, for it uses a simple method to describe the
relationship among main social and economic activities, city primary industries, housing, service
sector, and transport. R A Grain and Wilson introduced the economics concepts into Lowry Model
in 1966 and 1971 respectively; they rewrote Lowry Model and Lowry-Grain Model remains to be
one of the most extensively used city model till this day.

5.6.3 Urban Expansion Analysis Models

City is the center of the regional system and the most influential time and space compound
system, urbanization is the leading process for the evolution of regional land use. Since the 19th
Century, people have established a lot of models from different perspectives to reveal the dynamic
mechanism of city expansion. These models can be roughly divided into following types
according to their simulation content, model establishing principles, and the form of expressing
the models:
(1) Urban system dynamic model
System dynamics is a quantitative measure based on feedback control theory studying
complicated city social and economic system with the help of numerical calculation emulative
technique. Forrester (1969) and Wilson (1971) contributed the most to the construction of city
system dynamic model. Wilson changed the city model of Lowry and constructed dynamic
simulation of city system evolution by introducing the principle of maximum entropy to build a
group of non-linear differential equation, and the model can be used to demonstrate such
complicated movement features as big changes in a city. Chinese scholar Zhang Xinsheng is a
representative in this field and he proposed city space growth dynamic mechanism (1997), a city
space dynamic model based on individual activities.
(2) Urban fractal model
According to the traditional Euclid geometrical space, we take a city as a space gathering
points, lines and areas, or certain type of structure; but this is a structure in certain measurement,
with different measurements, the structure is not permanent. Fractal is a collection of different
geometrical or physical structures in all measurements and can reflect city dynamic process;
therefore, the city is fractal in form.
Batty and other scholars (1993, 1994) readjusted city density function and built an ideal city
growth model for Cardiff City by using diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA) model with a
dimension degree of 1.71. The relationship between the total length of its city border L(r) and
graduation r is L(r ) C r

1 Df

, or L(r ) C r , in which a is graduation index, and its relation with

dimension is a Df 1 (Figure 5.13). Chinese scholar Duan Jin used the fractal model to study
Shanghai-Nanjing city cluster, concluding on a series of constructed area size and corresponding
town size series. Other scholars also used fractal theory to study the distribution of transport

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network (network fractal) and city business network (density fractal).

Source: http://www.iemar.tuwien.ac.at/modul23/Fractals/subpages/62Cityplanning.html

Figure 5.23 City Growth DLA Model and Cardiff City Area Border
(3) Cellular automata and multi-agent systems
Cellular Automata (CA) is a dynamic system evolved on diffused time dimension in the cell
space composed of diffusion-limited state cells according to certain partial rules. Four basic
elements of CA are diffused cells, states, neighbor, and rules. In its nature, CA model is more like
a framework constructing a model instead of a specific simulated model, and its top advantage is
that, by defining partial cell neighbor relationship and use relatively simple conversion rules
functioning on elementary cell neighbor, can simulate and represent dynamic time and space
changes of complicated phenomena in the entire system without resorting to complicated
differential equation or partial differential equation. Its easy to use standard CA to represent city
systems, while CA model has strong calculation capacity in solving complicated issues, with time
and space separation characteristics, parallel calculation features, openness, and flexibility, which
supports its extensive application on the research of city growth, diffusion and land use evolution
simulation (Figure 5.14).
In multi-agent systems or agent-based models, agent represents a real or abstract entity,
which interacts with each other, and with environment, multiple agents can coexist in one
environment, and each agent will move around actively and independently. Their activities are the
results of self perception, deduction, decision-making, and of interaction with other agents and
environment. To build a model with agent can simulate the social, economic, and spatial behavior
of individual decision maker with heterogeneity so as to express the overall features of city space
structure, such as population density, size, spatial gathering of enterprises. Multi-agent systems
reflect micro-scope structural features and individual activities of a city, which are the reasons
resulting in such complicated features of city dynamic, self-organization, and sharp changes.

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Source: http://www.geosimulation.org/geosim/cellular_automata.htm

Figure 5.24 CA Simulates Chicago Area Expanding in 1850, 1950, and 2000
The creation and development of different city models have different social, economic, and
technological background, and their application have different significance too. The construction
of city model cant accurately predict all problems during the evolution of a city, and their main
function is to have a better understanding on different factors contributing to urban growth and the
mechanism of their function, so that the decision made on city planning and development can have
a better foundation, be more transparent and more logical.

5.7 Thoughts and Methods on the Planning of Harmonious

Land Use and Urban mobility Development
Urban mobility and city land use are a pair of important conflicting elements for city growth; to
study their relationship is to coordinate these two elements so as to promote the sustainable
development of the city.

5.7.1 Analysis on the Interaction between Urban mobility and Land

Use
Urban mobility and land use keep growing during the process of interaction, certain land use form
always decides the traffic source and traffic flow direction, the size of traffic demand, as well as
peoples choice of traffic means, therefore decides the traffic structure at a macro-scope level. AT
the same time, the degree of convenience of traffic system also decides land development degree
and city spatial forms. In general, the relations between mobility and land use can be summarized
as follows:
(1) Relationship between transport forms and city forms: on the one hand, specific social
and economic status and corresponding mobility technologies affect the choice of traffic means
and then the spatial form of a city; on the other hand, the development of city spatial forms
promotes the demand on automobiles and high-speed road in a city. The unordered growth of city
space also forces people to reconsider the importance of public transport.
(2) Relationship between transport planning and urban planning: the important content
of mobility planning including the research of quantitative model shall consider urban planning
during specific period of time. The strong demand of planning drives the development of urban
mobility demand model, and the creation of such theories as urban planning based on people,
theories and city management, which will directly results in the focus on culture, society, and
economy in mobility planning, which will in turn further promote the development of a
comprehensive model research. On the other hand, the development of a comprehensive model
also promotes the development of city planning theories.
(3) Relationship between urban planning and city forms, between transport planning
and transport forms: they enjoy a close relationship with each other, among which social and
economic growth as well as the development of relevant technologies plays an important role.

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To promote the harmonious development of urban mobility and land use is of important
significance to provide ultimate solution to urban mobility and to promote urban growth.

5.7.2 Exploration of the Strategy on Planning a Harmonious Land

Use and Urban mobility Development
It is required to solve the issues of sustainable urban mobility from city planning so as to seek a
land use and mobility growth model featuring high accessibility and low traffic demand; the land
use in city shall change from original focus on development speed, land size and average land use
indices to emphasizing reasonable city spatial form and land use form so as to create a land
development model centering on the development of public transport system, to cautiously take
care of traditional functioning district division concept, to create balanced and complete
community development model, and to maintain the diverse functions of central and other areas.
(1) To decide on a reasonable city scale and land use pattern
City size has a long-term and decisive impact on total traffic volume; in order to reduce total
traffic load, the city size must be put under strict control. The city land use planning decides the
structure and basis of transport system, thats why the land use planning shall become increasingly
reasonable. The actual conditions of a large population, limited land resources and undeveloped
economy in China decide that the land use in Chinese cities must stick to the road of intensive and
compact use. In addition, to develop multi-centered cities with diverse structure is another
direction for the development of modern cities. The spatial planning of a city decides the general
pattern of urban mobility (flow and direction) at macro-scope level. So there shall be a wellprepared overall planning for a new city, supported by a corresponding transport system. As for
the renovation of old town, it is required to take into comprehensive consideration of property,
function, landforms, geology, and hydrology of the city so as to achieve long-term planning and
staged implementation, to finally realize a harmonious transport system with comprehensive
functions.
(2) To emphasize the comprehensive utilization of urban land resources
The comprehensive utilization of urban land resources refer to the use of land with diverse
properties in specific district in a city, and this will help to achieve a balanced development of
different types of land use, to absorb local people traffic, to reduce cross-district traffic activities,
which will effectively reduce the traffic pressure on limited transport facilities and to relieve
traffic jam. The new town planning proposed by British Milton Keynes is a good example of
taking into comprehensive consideration of land use planning and mobility organization so as to
achieve comprehensive use of land resources.
(3) To guarantee a reasonable land use intensity
The land use in city shall focus on the economization and the development of potentials of
existing land resources. Among modern traffic means, the subway, underground multi-layer rail
transport, and elevated rail traffic greatly change the mobility situation in big cities, and at the
same time save land resources, and expand the areas of land use. While fully development the
potentials of land resources, it is also required to avoid excess concentration of urban population
and city functions in certain districts, which will make the total traffic demand exceed traffic

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capacity. Another problem that should be avoided is that the excess use of land resources in
downtown area will make it impossible to solve urban mobility issues. Therefore, there should be
an analysis and evaluation system on the traffic impact of land use and development projects in
planning process.
(4) To promote the development and use of public transport system through a
reasonable land use
From the perspective of sustainable development, cities usually focus on the control of
private traffic and development of public transport means. The reasonable use of land resource
will greatly promote the development of public transport; the compact use of land resource will
also contribute to the development of public transport. Through a scientific and reasonable
planning, it is possible for population to work and live in relatively concentrated areas, which will
improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public transport means. Moreover, different intensities
of land use will directly affect the choice of public transport means, and high intensity of land use
will contribute to the development of high-speed, large-capacity, and top-service rail transport
system.
(5) To affect the general pattern and intensity of land use through the changes of
transport system
The choice of leading transport means will affect the land use pattern and intensity, which
will finally decide the form of urbanization. City structure, city size and expansion, city life style
and characteristics, all these are closely related to the property of urban mobility system and
service quality. The following are four choices of urban mobility system development models:
Model 1: To construct a passenger transport network framework composed of multiple types
of rail transport means, high-speed trunk lines, and comprehensive passenger hubs, complemented
by different levels of public transport means, to effectively control the private car fleet, managing
to achieve a high-speed, high-density, high-efficient, top-quality transport system;
Model 2: To focus on city rail traffic, on road public transport means, to encourage the use of
bicycle to cover short distance, to restrict the use of car, so as to achieve a diverse transport
system;
Model 3: To focus on road public transport means, to plan public transport trunk lines for
directions featuring dense passenger load, to encourage the use of bicycle to cover short distance,
to restrict the use of cars, so as to achieve a highly adaptive and flexible transport system;
Model 4: To achieve a harmonious mobility development with diverse road public transport
means and different types of individual transport means.
Most problems of urban mobility cant be solved by solely depending on mobility planning
and shall be combined with city planning so as to find a final solution on the basis of reasonable
land use. Reasonable urban planning shall combine land use planning, mobility planning and
environment planning. Only combining policies of mobility, land use and environment can result
in the sustainable urban mobility growth.

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5.8 Application

of

Planning

Information

System

for a

Harmonious Development of Urban Mobility and Land Use

In terms of the demand on planning a harmonious urban mobility and land use, a planning
information system should be developed so as to provide scientific foundation and to support the
planning of harmonious urban mobility and land use with the application of information
technologies to mange database about urban mobility and land use and to conduct multiple
quantitative analysis.

5.8.1 Functions and Characteristics of Planning Information System

5.8.1.1 Functional Requirements of Planning Information System
The core functions of the planning information system for harmonious development of urban
mobility and land use should focus on GIS and cover following five aspects:
(1) Data collection and input: to input the original data into the planning information system
for harmonious development of urban mobility and land use, and transfer the format of the data
into internal format for the convenience of processing by the system;
(2) Data editing and updating: to edit the data of spatial (map) and attribute (statistical); to
update data means to replace the corresponding original data items or records in database with
new records and attributes;
(3) Data storage and management: the focus of data storage and management is to combine
spatial data and attribute data; raster data model, vector data model, raster-vector mixed data
model, and object orianted data model are commonly used for spatial data organization;
(4) Data analysis and process: not only include the common GIS spatial analysis method, but
also include professional model and analysis methods aiming to achieve a harmonious urban
mobility and land use development;
(5) Data display and output: the ways of data output include display on computer monitor, etables, digital map, statistic charts, as well as all kinds of thematic maps, and topographic maps
with all main map elements.

5.8.1.2 Main Characteristics of Planning Information System

(1) Multi-disciplinary and integrated information system: the planning information system for
the harmonious urban mobility and land use development involves urban mobility, land use, as
well as multiple disciples and integrated information;
(2) To focus on spatial data, as well as other types of data: in terms of connotation,
information system provides spatial data, attribute data, topological relation data; in terms of
content, it includes city street data, urban mobility data, land use data, transport environment data,
and all types of data focus on the spatial location, and integrating spatial data with attribute data;
(3) The function of spatial analysis so as to meet the demand of application: based on GIS,

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the information system not only focus on the basic data management functions including the
inquiry of spatial data, but also focus on the different spatial analysis functions including overlay
analysis, route analysis, and network analysis.

5.8.2 Framework and Data of Planning Information System

5.8.2.1 General Framework of Planning Information System
Planning Information System supports such functions as spatial data collection, management,
process, analysis, model building and display, as shown in Figure 5-14, and the system is basically
composed of five parts: hardware system, software system, spatial data, application model, and
system user, and their relations are as shown in Figure 5.15:
System User

User Interface

Software System

Application Model

DBMS
Spatial Database Management
System
Hardware System

Figure 5.25 Composition of Planning Information System for Harmonious

Urban Mobility and Land Use

5.8.2.2 Hardware Configuration of Planning Information System

As shown in Figure 5.16, the configuration of hardware for the Planning Information System
mainly include following five types of equipments:
Data input system: digitizer, scanner, work station measurement instruments
Data storage system: magnetic tape unit, CD drive, portable HD, and HD array
Data process system: work station, PC, notebook
Data output system: graphic terminal, plotter, printer, hard copy equipments
Network transmission system: wiring routing, bridge, router, and exchanger

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Network Transmission Equipment: Network & Communication

System
Input
System
Digitizer

Storage
System
CD-DVD

Process
System
Desktop

Output
System
Plotter

Scanner

Disk Cell

WorkStation

Printer

Image Decod
er

Disk Unit

Unit Compute
r

Projector

Figure 5.26 Hardware Configurations of Planning Information System for

Harmonious Urban Mobility and Land Use

5.8.2.3 Software Configuration of Planning Information System

GIS software is the core of Planning Information System to carry out different GIS functional
operation, including data input, process, database management, spatial analysis, and graph user
interface (GUI). According to the functions, it falls into different categories of GIS professional
software, database software, and system management software.
(1) GIS professional software: according to the current environment of Tsinghua University
campus GIS network system for teaching and research, software configuration of planning
information system for sustainable urban mobility research chooses ArcGIS.
(2) Database software: database software not only supports the management of complicated
GIS spatial data, but also serves the management of mainly non-spatial attribute data.
(3) System management software: mainly refers to computer operation system and the mostly
commonly used OS includes MS-Windows, UNIX, and Linux.
In addition, remote sensing image process software is also important for planning
information system, and after comparison and analysis, we chose ERDAS Imagine software
system featuring powerful functions, easy operation, and being easy to learn and to use.

5.8.2.4 Data Organization of Planning Information System

Planning Information system for the harmonious urban mobility and land use mainly handles
spatial data, through which to describe in details the spatial features, attribute features and
temporal features of geographical entity. According to the graphical forms indicating the spatial
relations between urban mobility and land use, the spatial data fall into three types of point, line,
and polygon, and data can be expressed in two main organization forms of vector data and raster
data, the content of the data includes city basic data, street transportation data, and land use data.
The database content of planning information system for urban mobility and land use is
shown as Figure 5.17 and is composed of spatial database, and spatial database management
system (SDBMS); the former stores a large amount of data files and the data in these files, while

96

the latter is mainly dedicated to the uniform management of data, including inquiry, searching,
adding and deleting, revising and maintaining. The communication between planning information
system database and its core software GIS is integrated by spatial database engine (SDE).
Urban Mobility and Land Use Database for Sustainable Mobility

Urban SDI

GIS Vecto
r Databas
e

RS
Raster
Databas
e

Urban Mobility

Social/
Economic
Database

Streets
Database

Transport
Database

Urban Land-Use

Building
Database

Land-Use
Database

Spatial Database Engine + Spatial Database Management System

Figure 5.27 Data Flow of Planning Information System for a Harmonious Urban
Mobility and Land Use

5.8.3 Application and Case Study of Planning Information System

5.8.3.1 Models of Planning Information System Application
The planning of a harmonious urban mobility and land use with the help of planning information
system mainly involves two processes: the definition of goal-oriented issues, the actual dataoriented operation, the details of which are shown in Figure 5-18.
During the actual application of planning information system for harmonious urban mobility
and land use, two methods mentioned above can be combined. The definition of issues focus on a
harmonious development of urban mobility and land use, while the data operated is done on the
basis of basic urban database, focusing on urban mobility data and land use data with the help of
GIS spatial analysis function and professional model analysis method.

97

Application Operation

Issue to be Solved

Multi-Source Data

Definition
Breakdown/Relation

Build Database
Data Input/Conversion

Nature of Issue
Proof/Data/Assumption

Issue Data Set

Extract/Synthesis

Concept
Concept/Factor/Method

Seeking Solution
Model/Analysis

Solution Data
Data Source/Data Set

Solution
Verify/Explain/Express

Planning Information System for Harmonious Growth

A Harmonious Urban Mobility and Land Use

Issue Definition

Compiled on the basis of the flow chart by Chen Shupeng

Figure 5.28 Basic Flow of Planning Information System for Harmonious Urban
Mobility and Land Use

5.8.3.2 Application of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Spatial Planning

(1) Specification of Planning Information System Database
Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei spatial database is based on 1:25 digital topographic map provided by
the National Geomatics Center of China, adopting 1980 Xian coordinate system and 1985 state
datum level. The content represents the actual situation as of the end of 2000 and some in 2002.
Spatial data is managed in different layers in Coverage format of ArcGIS, including nine layers of
thematic elements of administrative division, residential area, railway, road, water system, and
landform, each layer has one or several attributes.
(2) Specification of Planning Information System Application
The application of planning information system in spatial planning and research of BeijingTianjin-Hebei region mainly provides supportive analysis for decision-making and regional spatial
planning based on the planning map, including individual element analysis and comprehensive
spatial analysis, the former includes the analysis of land form, river, lake and water system
distribution, road and railway distribution, city and town distribution, village distribution, among
other things.

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5.9 Conclusion
Since to coordinate urban planning and urban mobility is a big topic, this article involves a large
amount of contents. Firstly, the article systematically summarizes the successful experience
obtained by developed western countries in the setting up of policies and regulations, the
construction of management mechanism, and the coordination of implementation strategy, on the
basis of which to further analyze current management procedures in Beijing, the relations among
different administrations and their impact, as well as the actual effect of main implementation
methods concerning land development and transport construction, proposing feasible suggestions
on the improvement of city management and implementation strategy, the improvement of
planning technologies and the construction of a complete legislation. Then the article studies the
comprehensive theories and methods on the coordination of city spatial development, involving
spatial information technology and methods and space syntax analysis theories. An empirical
space syntax research is conducted on a harmonious development of urban mobility and land use
on the basis of Beijing spatial information system, trying to explore and reveal the relationship
between city spatial structure (transport network) and function (land use) at the level of integrated
city spatial form and to integrate urban mobility with land use, concluding that syntax theories
effectively reveal the relationship between city form and city function distribution and changes,
providing a feasible exploration on integrating transport planning and land use planning. And then
the article systematically explains different analysis models on harmonious urban spatial
development, such as city population analysis model, city structure analysis model, and city
expansion analysis model, trying to have a profound understanding on all factors contributing to
the harmonious urban development from the perspective of models as well as to have a better
understanding of functioning mechanism. The study is followed by an empirical research of
population growth in Beijing. The article also explores GIS-based planning information system
and its application according to the demand of sustainable urban mobility and land use
development, focusing on the system structure, requirements on functions, module composition,
and types of data. Then it takes the sustainable urban mobility and harmonious land use
development in Greater Beijing Area as an example to explain the construction of planning
information system database and its actual application. At last, the article proposes the
development strategy and planning methods on how to achieve sustainable urban mobility and
harmonious development of land use.

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[J].Geographical information science,1998,12(7):651-671.
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Geography, 15, 258- 278.
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[12]Hillier, B., 1996, Cities as movement economies, Urban Design International, 1, 49-60
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grids, Urban Design International, 3/4, 107-127
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construction of urban space, Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Space
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spatial structure in Iranian and English historic cities before and after modernisation, PhD
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City Pl anning Review, 29(6):9-13.
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Chapter 6 Underground Space Utilization and Urban

Traffic Problem
6.1 Significance of Underground Space Utilization and Urban
Transport 3-D Development
Nowadays urban underground space has been viewed as important natural resources of cities in
the world. It has received extensive attentions and has been developed in large scale in many
countries, and is showed comprehensively superior benefits on expanding urban spatial capacity,
optimizing urban land use, easing contradictions among land use, traffic congestion and
environmental protection as well as enhancing the ability of resisting to urban disasters.
The fast urbanization and metropolis-oriented trend are bringing about increasingly high
concentration of urban population, pressures of urban land use and deteriorating environmental
situation in China. Facing this trend and situation, rational use of urban underground space can
play special and significant roles for city and society in many aspects. Underground space
utilization would produce more and more profound influences to development of the city and
society, especially to the urban transport system, which is and will be always the most important
function of the urban underground space use in China.

6.1.1 Characteristics and Utilization of Underground Space

(1)Characteristics and superiorities of underground space
Underground space has fine physical characteristics including isolation of space and
environment, and relatively higher stability of geotechnical structure and physical environment
than ground space.
These physical characteristics can produce superiorities which not only can reduce
environmental disturbance between internal and external space of the infrastructure so that to
create natural nice conditions for easing the contradictions of urban space development and
environment protection, but can added spatial resource supply for urban space expansion and
multi-floor land use in vertical direction and provide an environmental friendly new way for
intensive and three-dimensional development of urban space.
For example, the elevated expressway, as a representative of three-dimensional transport
facilities, usually after a period of construction, the traffic flow of which often exceeded the
capacity design limits so much a lot that greater traffic jams happened. Meanwhile, too much
occupation of piers on the road, elevation impact on the citys landscape and historical cultural
appearance, greater noise and air pollution from overcrowded vehicles, became even more serious
than ground road. This phenomenon causes significant negative impact on urban traffic efficiency,
environmental protection and user-friendly spatial building.

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Unlike spatial development pattern above ground, the exploitations of underground space use
proper techniques to excavate urban subsurface soil or rock for multi-floor use of this land but
without any disturbance to the former existed ground space, so that extra spatial expanding and
land value can be created without enlargement of the original land, and the capability and
functions of urban transport can be improved at vertical direction underground. Additionally, this
kind of space exploitation mode can also seal pollution emissions effectively by the isolated space
pattern. The more obvious the urban agglomeration effectiveness and the higher the land pressures
and environmental protection requirement, then the higher effectiveness and potential value of
underground space can be seen so as it has been regarded as a new kind of natural land resources.
(2)Basic urban functions of underground space
Experiences from practical and theoretical study about urban underground space
development and utilization both at home or abroad shows that: urban underground space can be
used for housing, transportation, logistics, business, cultures, production, storage, disaster
prevention and buried and ectalmost every part, function and content of cities can make use of
underground space. Among these using and functions, urban underground infrastructure systems
including underground municipal facilities and underground transport system which directly
served for transit of people and goods, and the mobile underground public space including
commercial, cultural, services, recreation, pedestrian and other space, is the most important and
most active part of urban underground space use.

Public spaces of commercials, restaurant, and recreate

Facilities of subway, logistics, storage and disaster prevention
Large scale infrastructures
Reserved as resource of future

Source:[19] Qingdao Urban Planning Design and Research Institute; Department of civil engineering, THU
2005. Qingdao Urban Underground Space Planning Manual

Figure 6.29 Concept of function and layout of urban underground space

utilization

6.1.2 Significance of Underground Space Use

6.1.2.1 At Single System and Local Space Level in a City
(1)Vertical expansion of urban space and multi-floor land use can save land resource apparently
and improve the performance and efficiency of urban land use.
(2)Placing rail traffic and other vehicles underground at appropriate urban areas especially in
central districts can not only avoid surface road and traffic, expand total transport supply and

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improve traffic capacity, but also control emissions of greenhouse gas, noise and polluted air from
vehicles.
(3)Transformation of feasible urban functions into underground can avoid massive
dismantling and building of ground space so that to reduce environmental impact on ground, such
as decreasing ground-building density, expanding open and green space, improving urban
ecosystem and protecting urban historical culture and landscape.

6.1.2.2 At Overall System and whole Space Level in a City

(1) Natural protection ability from seismic and other disasters of the underground space can help
establish urban disaster prevention system which should provide massive effective places of safety
and safeguard the city security in event of natural and human made disasters.
(2) Underground space can provide a safe, effective and convenient condition for massive
water storage and peak consumption of energy. It can reserve and adjust the purveying, collection
and storage of natural energy (such as the heat form the air and water, cold energy, solar power
and wind power, etc.).
(3)Coordination, division, integration of the space and functions of ground and underground
can help optimize the urban function and spatial arrangement, improve the entire efficiency and
reliability of operating and quality of life eventually with the process of urban modernization in
future.

6.1.2.3 At Strategic Regional and National Level 3

More than 60 percent of land area in China is mountainous. Most of the mountains and hills are in
the west region of China and most major rivers in China flow from west to east, which form up
barriers to North-South traffic. Therefore, the rational underground space exploiting, especially
underwater tunnels and tunnels pass-through mountains for transportation and energy storages, not
only occupy less farmland, but also have great significance in economics and national defense. For
example:
(1) Construction of tunnels crossing the rivers can make north-south traffic unblocked in war
status. This special role of the tunnels cannot be replaced by any bridge.
(2) Building of entire underground traffic tunnels of North-South (such as from Harbin to
Shenzhen) and west-east (such as from Shanghai to Urumqi), can greatly raise the train speed,
transport security and capability in either between usual time and wartime or disaster time.
(3) Building of Sea tunnel from Yantai to Dalian cross- Bohai, Strait tunnel from Leizhou
Peninsula to Hainan Island across-Qiongzhou, as well as undersea tunnel cross-Taiwan Strait,
would have great signification for economic development, district security and reunification of
China.
(4) Construction of large-scale storage system for national strategic commodities in
mountains, could deposit large storage of energy and other materials, which not only can resist
disasters and crises in peacetime, but also has great significance in wartime and can accelerate
3

Adopted from TONG Linxu.2005. Underground space and urban modernization. BeijingChina Building
Industry Press
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post-war recovery.

6.1.3 Urban Transport 3-D Development with Underground Space

The modernization process of worlds major big cities was a history of spatial expanding in
horizontal and vertical directions. Under the situation of increasing scarce of land, energy, fresh
water and all kinds of resource for human survival and development, urban sprawling has been
considered an unreasonable, unsustainable development pattern. After peaceful development of
global cities and economics during a period of nearly 60 years, the approach of inner increasing
and compact, intensive, three-dimensional development has been considered as a high-efficient
and sustainable mode for cities development.
For examples by subway and expressway which represent the modern urban transportation
system:
In cities with high density of population and land pressures, the horizontal exploitation of the
road system needs to increase land use area by removing and relocating large number of the
original buildings and population. If some traffic function goes into underground and upper
ground space by constructing a three-dimensional urban transport system, more effective space
can be formed for alleviating traffic contradictions. In the prosperity area of the city, elevated road
shows limits in land conservation and has negative impact on landscape. For example: at least 3-5
m scope at the lower part of the elevated road only must be used as car parking instead of traffic
going through. If we plan to extend a four-lane (two-way) overhead road on the original six-lane
(two-way) road on ground, actually we do not get a ten-lane road. We only can obtain an eightlane road because of the occupation of two lanes by the elevated roads piers. So we only increase
two lanes actually. At the same time, vehicles on elevated roads will produce more noises than
ground roads, and the pollution air emitted form the elevated road can flow farther and affect
larger scope. Additionally, in central area of the city, elevated roads separate ground space into
pieces so that historic features and the high-value of land use in these areas were lost or destroyed.
Rail transportation system also need reasonable three-dimensional operating mode in order to
achieve really mass transit goal of service with high efficiency, safety and non-pollution. Subway
system as the rapid, clean, public transport with large capacity and high efficiency has three
operating modes: on ground, elevated and underground. In suburbs and urban outlying areas,
ground and elevated express way are generally use; in urban centers and areas of high land price,
in order to avoid traffic blocked, reduce land occupied, protect urban environment and improve
the operating efficiency and safety of the subway, the subway line system is usually arranged in
underground space.
The international experience shows that elevated mode of road and rail traffic far more suits
in the urban fringe area or in mountainous regions. In the lively land sector of the urban centers,
residential areas and protection-need areas of historical cultural and ecological landscape, the
elevated express way is not the best solution to road network. As the representatives, project of
BigDig in Boston City(see 6.2.2.1) which removed bridges to tunnel, and the Cheonggyecheon
project in Seoul City which removed the bridge along the river (see Figure 6.2), reflect the recent
results of long-term thinking of people about the elevated three-dimensional road system, and it is
a significant sign that great attentions have been paid on turning of some urban ground road traffic

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into the underground space.

before restoring

restoring period

after restoring

removal of elevated bridge

Figure 6.30 Seoul Cheonggyecheon Restoration and Improvement Project4

Use of underground space to address traffic problems in modern cities began from Londons
first subway line built in 1863, which is the world's first underground railway line. This implies
that more than 100 years ago, underground space was used to ease urban traffic problems. About
100 years after that and particularly in recent 40-50 years, subway and underground light rail,
urban underground road tunnels, cross-sea and under-river tunnels, underground pedestrian streets
and so on, have been developed greatly.
Many big cities of home and abroad according to their own conditions and needs, build threedimensional traffic systems, organically transferring and composing spaces of ground and
underground as an entire integrity. Complete systems of urban underground transport are formed
at areas along transport mainlines and of the key nodes, which play important and key roles in
urban transport system. Among them, the local three-dimensional traffic system, for example of
cloverleaf junction, passengers foot-bridge crossing street and underground pedestrian road, and
so on, can solve the problem of vehicle blocking and the mutual hindrance between pedestrian and
vehicles caused by plane-level crossing.
For example, the A86 West tunnel project in Paris, France, have formed the final link of the
Greater Paris A86 ring road system (total cost 2.23 billion and due for completion in 2007 5) that
passes away the natural ecology and landscape regions, and residential areas. Planners adopted a
combination form of ground and underground of the ring road. While the road passes away
historical and cultural conservation area of Versailles located in the western city, an entire
underground road (A86 WEST TUNNEL) was planned, which not only can avoid the interference
and sabotage to the natural environment conservation and human landscape, but can connect the
road network at any crossing area(see Figure 6.3).

http://www.me.go.krhttp://www.moct.go.krhttp://cheonggye.seoul.go.kr/Seoul City Government. Instruction

About Korea Seoul Cheonggye river[2008-1-1~2008-1-7]
5
http://www.urbantransport-technology.com/projects/france/
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Figure 6.31 Paris, France, A86-west Tunnel 6(the white sections)

At present, the use of urban underground space has became an important choice for planning
of urban three-dimensional transport system and a new method to resolve contradictions in
harmonic development of urban transport, land use and protection of historical cultural and
environment. As the significant advantages of underground space in transportation function and at
the period of rapid urbanization and intensive urban development in China, underground transport
system has been becoming more and more urgent in big cities while its demand is growing up for
alleviating urban traffic congestion and conflicts with land-use by an environmental way.

6.2 Examples & Experiences from Urban Underground Use in

the World
6.2.1 Overview of Urban Underground Transport in Developed
Countries
Subway is the most important mode of urban underground space development and utilization.
From the first subway in the world was built in London in 1863, underground space utilization has
last for more than 140 years. The number of cities worldwide having subway networks has
increased from 20 at time of World War II to more than 130 of current time; the length of metro
line laid underground has reached 4,000 kilometers. London, Tokyo, Paris, New York, Moscow
and other international cities have the world's most developed subway network.
The development of subway can enhance the accessibility of urban transport and bring new
opportunity to urban economic development. Some developed countries specially designed station
space from top to bottom after they determined the stations location in order to make the region
around become attractive business and leisure center. The underground space development not
only can increase the transport capacity, ease the pressure on land use and transport, and will meet
some traffic function in underground, such as attracting a large proportion of the traffic flow, so as
to improve the ground traffic environment. The development and utilization of underground space
started from the outward extension of large buildings, has developed to the form of underground
complex, underground street and underground city which is combined with underground rapid rail
transit system, playing an important role in the transformation from old city to modern city and
6

http://www.roadtraffic-technology.com/projects/#Road_Systems
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help sustainable development of urban transport. In Hong Kong, Tokyo and other major
international cities, trend shows the integration of land use and rail traffic, which will be helpful to
improve the efficiency of urban transportation and land-use.
Beside subway system, underground parking and underground pedestrian road are the most
typical space features of underground transport system. Over last decade, urban underground
motor vehicles systems have also made great development. These features mainly are gathered in
citys centre area as well as historical cultural protection area, residential area and the ecological
and landscape protection area.
In some big cities in European and other cities such as in United States, Canada and Japan,
underground space had been developed to a high level of efficiency, planned and designed
integrate space of ground and underground. Underground space planning starts with special plans,
gradually forms the systematic planning. The subway planning and municipal infrastructure
planning are the most prominent. Some countries where underground space be used earlier and
more fully, e.g., Finland, Sweden, Norway, Japan and Canada, have changed their planning
activity from the local areas to city planning and some system planning.

6.2.2 Typical Examples at Home and Abroad

The history of subway and underground parking system is long and successful. Examples,
reference books and information are familiar to most people. This section only gives examples of
projects about urban underground road systems which are growing more popular recent years and
projects of large underground complex in urban centers which play main transport function.

6.2.2.1 Central Artery & Tunnel Project in Boston7

(1) Project background and problems
Boston, as the capital city of Massachusetts State, has been built for nearly 400 years, and
made brilliant achievements in city planning and building. Boston has the first perfect subway
system in the U.S., efficient and comfortable complex-line subway lines are all over the city.
Central Artery, the elevated 93# and 90# freeways, was built in the late 1950s and went through
the center of Boston.
According to the original plan, the traffic through the Central Artery is 75 000 a day, but to
the late 1980s, however, reached 190 000 a day. Daily time of traffic jam on the elevated freeway
was over 10 hours and traffic accidents occurred 4 times more than the average level of the U.S.
national highway. It had became one of the most crowded and low-efficient urban transport lines
in the U.S., expected to 2010, time of traffic congestion will be developed to 16 hours a day.
Serious traffic congestion and high accident rate forced some business institutions moved out to
find better and convenient areas. This process further reduced the city's vitality. According to
estimates, due to blockage, accidents, wasted fuel gas pollution, time delays and other factors, the
economic losses reached 500 million U.S. dollars each year (Fig. 6.4).
Meanwhile people realized that the highway, urban rapid road and their huge flow had
separated the space of surrounding area, for example, Central Artery viaduct separated Boston
7

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North area and adjacent waterfront and the central area of the Old City, and restricted these areas
to play an integral role in urban economic activities. It was not fully considered when the early
viaducts were built.
(2) Project plans and objectives
In order to restore the vitality of the Boston city center and business environment, alleviate
the congestion of vehicles on Central Artery viaduct, in the 1990s, the Massachusetts Toll Roads
Authority proposed the central tunnel plan (Central Artery / Tunnel Project, CA / T, also known as
the Big dig), which was claimed as the largest project ever in American history. According to the
plan, 6-8 lane underground highway and road system on ground will be built under the viaduct
built in 1950s, and then the viaduct will be demolished.
All projects were completed in the fall of 2006 and put into use. Total cost is 14.7 billion U.S.
dollars, road length is about eight miles, I-93 part from the Roxbury section to Somerville is about
four miles, I-90 part from China Town to East Boston is about four miles, over half of which is
underground tunnel, with the world's largest tunnel ventilation systems and underground traffic
accidents Treatment Centre.
(3) The effectiveness, impact and enlightenment of CA/T project
After the opening of the tunnel, automobile congestion time during peak hours is reduced
from 8-10 hours a day to 2 to 3 hours, basically equivalent to the average level of other cities in
US. It is expected to lower carbon monoxide emissions by 12 percent. The trip volume of the fourlane tunnel leading to the airport (originally two two-lane tunnels) doubles after commercial
operation, the daily trip volume reaches 20 000.
CA / T project releases a large scope of free space on the ground for the urban center,
reproduces open space as the white Paper four hundred years ago, and creates conditions for city
floor space update. In the central area of Boston, over 300 acres landscape open space is restored,
45 small parks and plazas are built, 2 400 trees and 6 000 shrubs are planted, this reshapes the
good relations between the lands and greatly improves the downtown environment, creates the
conditions for the restoration of the Boston waterfront and the city centre's vitality. Whats more
significant is that the underground space development and the improvement of the environment
has hastened the birth of planning and design of many projects in adjacent land and urban
recovery, in the long run affect the entire city centres geography, ecology, environment, landscape
and concentration and direction of commerce and human (Fig. 6.5).
Central tunnel plan (CA / T) not only becomes a more effective traffic hub in Boston, but also
makes people fully understand the great environmental value of the underground works, as well as
their effectiveness in solving a series of complex issues such as urban transport, protection of the
city history, urban renewal, and environment and so on.

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Figure 6.32 Central Artery elevated system in central Bostonbuilt in 1950s

a) Landscape of Central Artery after rebuild

c) The floor plan of CA/T project

b) Inside the Central Tunnel

d) Landscape of city center after rebuild

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Figure 6.33 Sketch of planning of CA/T project in Boston

6.2.2.2 Underground Complex Dominated by Transport Function in Paris

(1) Les Halles underground complex
Les Halles, which locates in the center of Paris old city, was the city's traditional commercial
centre and the largest trade market. But its intensive historic buildings and the lack of opening
space make the environment quality poor. From 1962, Les Halles availed itself of the subway
construction to improve its environment. It has been built an opening park with a total of four
stories underground, and around the bottom of it is the world's largest subway transfer hub which
includes three independent subway stations (Les Halles, Chtelet-Les Halles, Chtelet) where five
subway lines and three RER lines pass by and stop and also there are a number of underground
vehicle roads (Fig. 6.6). In this huge underground space there are shopping malls, cinemas,
swimming pools, and large underground parking facilities of 20 000 parking spaces, with a total
area of 265 000 square meters.
(2) La De Fence New District
La De Fence New District locates at north-west of Paris, next to Seine River, at the extension
line of Old Citys axis. Its a world famous Central Business District, with area of four square
kilometers, has formed the current scale after 40 years of construction from 1958.To reduce the
division and destruction of the city space caused by traffic facilities and municipal facilities, a
design of major platform for separating people and vehicles is adopted, which is the world's
largest city complex with separation of people and vehicles, reflecting Le Corbusiers vision of
Sunshine City. The core of De Fence New District is the large man-made platform with walking
and leisure space on ground. Under the platform is a four-story underground space, contains
almost all motor vehicle traffic and municipal infrastructures in the core area, a large underground
transportation complex with 6 roads including cross-border highway, 2 railways, 3 destination bus
stations and 26,000 parking spaces. This 3-D development of urban transport thinking not only
realizes the division of people and vehicles, but also decreases noise and environmental pollution.

6.2.2.3 Underground Walking System in North America

The most well developed underground walking systems are located in some cities in America and
Canada, for example, Montreal in Canada and Manhattan and Houston in US.
Beneath the neighboring skyscrapers, their basements are connected mutually, equipped with
parking lots, underground shopping malls, channels and underground entertainments, forming an
integrated construction complex together with subway stations, underground rail stations and bus
stations, where all are integrated into urban public space and transportation system. For example,
the Rockefeller Center underground walking system in New York connects underground as main
large-scale constructions in the nearby 10 blocks, forming a large area underground integrated
space. And through the sunken square, the underground space and surface space are connected 3D spatial form, which makes a great landscape. The streets in Philadelphia and the central areas in
Chicago are also connected by underground pedestrian way to form a continuous walking space.
With the transformation of the old city, Montreal and Toronto has gradually developed an

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underground public space system with pedestrian walking roads beneath streets and buildings as
the main pedestrian traffic mode. This system connects most underground space beneath the
buildings, subways and public space in the city centre, forming the largest scale indoor city
(underground city). Total length of underground pedestrian channels in Montreal reaches 32 km.

(a) Birds Eye before rebuild

(b) Birds Eye after rebuild

(c) Profiles of Les Halles8

(d)subway station and transfer at Les Halles9

(e)3-D vision of Les Halles10

Figure 6.34 Rebuild project in central area of Les Halles, Paris

Source: Tong LinxuArchitecture of Underground Buildings,1994

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2telet-Les-Halles
10
Source: John Camody and Rey Sterlingunderground space design,1993
9

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Figure 6.35 Underground Walking System in the center of Toronto11

6.2.2.4 Integrated Underground Commerce and Transport System in Japan

Japanese territory is small and the cities lack of land space for the large population. Focusing on
subway stations and surrounding areas, Japan has well developed a new pattern of underground
transportation system integrated with underground commerce, subway, parking and underground
highway together the underground street systems.
(1)YAESU Underground Street in Tokyo is located beneath the street from Tokyo Station to
Ginza with three floors and an area of 74 000 m 2. The first underground floor is a commercial
street which leads to several subway stations nearby; the second and third floors are equipped with
parking lots and urban expressway, municipal device space. Vehicles can directly enter the garage
through underground roads. The daily passenger volume in this area is 800 to 900 thousand
people, and the surface traffic is still in great order due to the spatial separation of floors as the
most efficient traffic management (Fig. 6.8 ).
(2)The Central Avenue underground street in Nagoya, is three storey combined with the
subway station. The first underground floor is a walking square and street with shops around and
along, which makes it a great underground public pedestrian system combined with transportation
and commercial functions. The second underground floor is highway for all kinds of vehicles,
11 S

ource: John Camody and Rey Sterlingunderground space design,1993

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which is also equipped with ITS system. The third underground floor is laid with subway. In the
extension finished later, the street was connected to the Aichi Museum of Art and the newly
constructed bus station under the platform as underground, and makes the surface activities and
underground space a whole network, which greatly lessens the pressure from the surface traffic
congestion and also provides recreation commercial activities a comfort and safe public space.

Expressway

Car parks

Power tunnel

Power tunnel

Drainage
Power tunnel
Rail
Street
Underground street

The first under ground floor

Figure 6.36 Tokyo Station and YAESU Underground Street

6.2.2.5 Underground Traffic System of Zhujiang New Town in Guangzhou12

Zhujiang New Town is the largest and most important integrated project for urban expanding and
new town construction, and also the largest underground space project, in Guangzhou, China.
1Background of the planning and problems
The project is sited in the CBD in Guangzhou, covers an area of about 75 hectares, including
underground space in core area, underground cable car at new axis and landscape square at the
ground. It has two to three storeys underground. The total construction area of underground space
is about 420 000 m2, and total investment is 3.5 billion RMB Yuan. Metro line 3, 5 and
underground cable bus go through the district, around which are high-rise office buildings, starlevel hotels and other important public buildings.
The first of the three main traffic problems in plans is that the road network is hard to satisfy
the demand for east-west transportation and connection with east-west direction in the core district
just by Huangpu Avenue. Secondly, the CBD and North Tianhe Business District are separated by
the busy traffic flows of Huangpu Avenue and Zhongshan Avenue. Thirdly, with the completion of

12

According to referenceZHU Jian, 2007HE Jinchao et.2007

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buildings in the district, the traffic flow in the core area will gradually become saturated, and this
will make a very negative impact to the center green square landscape in planning.
2General concept of the planning
In principles of that people on ground and vehicles underground, underground space was
used to integrate various transport modes external and internal, separate flows of people and
vehicles into different level storey, and make people transfer in the underground space. Namely:
a) Develop overall underground space system, link the public buildings around the core area
of CBD uniformly and effectively, create a vibrant urban living room together with the ground
buildings.
b) Use underground space to integrate road network in which through-traffic will pass by in
underground, and all the motor vehicle traffics in the core area will be organized in underground
too. Ground and sunken squares are for walking space of people.
c) Set entrances around the core area for motor vehicle. Set ramps for public car parks and
bus stations in the underground transport storey, and connect them to the Metro line 3, line 5 and
regional track system for transfer.
(3) The comprehensive transportation planning
a) Pedestrian system: According to the principle separating pedestrians from vehicles, the
pedestrian system is formed as a multi-level walking system in underground, surface and elevated
levels. The elevated walking level connects the main buildings and the subway stations around
core area, and partly serves pedestrians crossing streets. The underground level connects subway
stations, served as the transfer channel between Zhujiang-New-Town Station and regional rail
transit lines. The pedestrian system of the core area consists of 4 sub-systems, i.e. the rapid
conveyance system for commuting people, the connection system between office buildings, the
connection system between subways and regional rail transit, and the sightseeing and visiting
system. Within the systems, pedestrians and vehicles are separated to different levels, and at some
of the intersections, signal system will guide pedestrians to cross the street.
b) Public transit system: One is the Parking planwhich mainly focuses on the underground
garages of buildings and partly on the public parking system. Match garages are advocated to open
to the publics. Connection passages in underground garages are to make up for the insufficient
capacity of branch road and sharing the parking space and facilities. The other is the traffic
organization plan which proposes a one-way circulating system consisting of larger
counterclockwise traffic ring + smaller clockwise traffic ring. The larger one way
counterclockwise cycle will be used by vehicles within the core areas. Five underground U-turns
are designed to reduce the travel distance caused by bypasses and improve the transportation
efficiency. With the larger surface counterclockwise cycle, the core areas are divided into three
smaller traffic cycle systems, i.e. the north ring, the middle ring and the south ring. To strengthen
the connection between Linjiang Ave and Zhujiang Ave (East and West), two roundabouts are
established at the underground layer of Linjiang Ave and Huaxia Road. See Figure 6.9(a)
(4) The General Underground Space Layout

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The sunken squares and lighting courts brings nature light to the underground buildings and
provides people more safe and comfortable areas which also save energy.
a) The 1st underground floor is the main plane level of the underground space of Zhujiang
New Town. The south part of core area is a parking lot for buses and coaches with VIP lanes, and
private car and taxi stops; Roundabouts and ramps to the garages are located at the north and south
tips of the parking lot ensuring the convenience of entrance and exit for vehicles; The north part of
the core area is also equipped with a parking lot for buses for visitors. The two parking lots are
connected by surrounding underground shops and rail transit stops.
b) The 2nd underground floor is occupied by bus parking lot, facility space and s mass transit
stations, and it is connected to surrounding underground garages.
c) The 3rd underground floor is used by mass transit stations and tunnels and cooling pipe
galleries.
(5) The Expected Results of the Planning
To integrate and optimize the regional transport system with the underground transportation
system is undoubtedly the most effective solution to the traffic congestion in big cities. The
underground transportation system of Zhujiang New Town will be an exemplar for the urban
transportation in China and even in the world. See Figure. 6.9(b).
Huaxia Road

Xiancun Road

Metro Line 3 Automatic passenger cable transit

Huangpu Avenue
Municiple Squre Station

Jinsui Road
Central squre station

Jinsui Road
Zhujiang New Town
station
Zhujiang New Town
station

Twin Tower Station

Metro Line 5

Huacheng Avenue
Huacheng Avenue

Theater Station

Linjiang avenue
Haixinsha station

Vehicle traffic system

1st floor underground

Automatic cable transit system

Figure 6.37 (a) Plan of underground traffic system of Zhujiang New Town

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Master plan

Metro line 3- Zhujiang New Town stationtransfer with line 5

Figure 6.9(b) Plan and sight of traffic system of The Zhujiang New Town

6.2.3 Main Experiences from Underground Space Use Worldwide13

6.2.3.1 Underground Space Use: Results from Urban 3D Redevelopment
When original existing cities especially the central areas are updated or rebuilt, space expanding
usually used the upper space with high rise buildings and viaducts. This often makes the ground
and upper space much more crowded, destroys nature and human landscape and the environment,
and causes much more noise and air pollutions. It has been realized that underground space has the
advantage and potential for expanding urban space capacity, improve traffic conditions without
disturbance of ground environment. This knowledge has been implemented in practice of urban
rebuilding, caused the three-dimensional re-development which contains ground space, upper
space and underground space. Construction of underground railway network, large-scale
underground complex, multiple utility tunnel and underground walking road network, etc., are all
the products of this period abroad.

6.2.3.2 Main Motive for Urban Underground Space Use: Solve Urban Traffic
Contradictions
The key problem of road traffic congestion is the contradiction between trip volumes, traffic
resources and conditions. The traditional problems such as high density of traffic, low speed,
mixed people and vehicles, cant be solved by widening roads and setting interchange only.
Subways, underground expressway, underground pedestrian roads and underground car parks
should be built and work with the ground rail traffic and parking facilities, so that the large
number of ground vehicles and pedestrians can be separated, and the static and dynamic traffic can
be significantly improved.

13

Adapted on the basis of< Research report of Urban Underground Space Resources Assessment
of Qingdao >,THU,2005

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For examples, in Paris, the subway networks transit 30 to 40 percent of the citys passengers.
An underground network of highways has been planned and in construction with total length of
nearly 50 km, and its expected that 400 000 of the 2.5 million vehicles running in the city
everyday can go underground in order to ease the ground traffic congestion. Passengers of Tokyos
Shinjuku Station are nearly 300 million a day, 45.7 percent of which walk through the
Underground Street, so that the overcrowding ground is greatly eased. The north crossing of
Osaka Tennoji Station once had serious problems of mixed people and vehicles, 60 000 cars and
130 000 people went through the crossing every hour. After rebuilding, the daily 200 000
passengers walk through Abeno Underground Street, so that the vehicle speed increases and
vehicles are unobstructed; this effect is equivalent to widen the road on the ground.
Its necessary to build subway when one-way trip volume reaches 40 000~60 000 people per
hour, the subway should go through underground in city central areas, and this effect of improving
traffic and environment can not be replaced. When inter-city railways go through the city center,
underground operations are gradually adopted in order to reduce the impact on the surrounding
environment. For example, in the early 20th century when the New Yorks Central Railway
Station was rebuilt, platforms were put into the newly built 1-2 stories of underground space, so as
to create conditions for appreciation of land and improvement of environment around the railway
lines and station area. According to Japans experiences, underground walking streets should be
built when passengers on the ground reach 20 000 per hour. This shows the key effect of
underground space in solving traffic problems.

6.2.3.3 Objective of Underground Transport: Obtaining Integrated Benefits

Because of the dense layers of rock, unit construction costs of underground space are usually 2 to
3 times higher than ordinary constructions on the ground. Although, after a comprehensive
comparison and weigh of its effectiveness in solving traffic problems, tremendous environmental
benefits and engineering feasibility, underground transport system still has achieved great
development. The key factor is that underground space can achieve added value of environmental
and social benefits which can not be replaced by ground space development. In the light of the
existing problems, people use life-cycle cost-benefit analysis, environmental impact assessment
and conservation of land resources for comparison, and modern science and technology can
gradually reduce the negative effects of underground in order to make it play more positive role on
urban transport. Some typical projects give typical examples such as the Central Artery/Tunnel
Project in Boston, Out Circle Underground Highway of Tokyo, Western Paris Underground
Expressway Project. In Washington DC, New York City, Boston and other cities, not only the
subway system is perfect built, but also the underground motor vehicle roads and underground bus
stations have been developed for a long time which brought about significant transport efficiency
and environmental benefits.
There are some economic problems in underground space development. One kind of
underground space is the profit-making commercial space; the other kind is the non-profit such as
the underground transport facilities, underground utilities and so on. The direct economic value of
the latter kind is lower, even sometimes impossible to measure with the benefits of direct
economics, but always have greater social and environmental benefits. Taking Underground Street

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as an example, the part of walking road (about 25 percent of total area) has no economic benefit at
all, but its social benefit to improve urban transportation is significant, and its possible to recover
investment because the walking road part is combined with business facility. In Japans massive
construction of underground street, parking, walking and business functions are always combined
together, business part is about 25 percent of total area, making up for the lack of parking revenue.
According to estimation, it takes about 10 years to recover the investment and gain profit (Tong
Linxu, 2005).
The successful operation of Hong Kong subway is depended on the objectives and scope of
the great social benefit created by the subway. Overall development including subway station and
its domain is a reasonable policy, the social benefits by subway constructions, such as land valueadded, business profits, passenger growth and advertising revenue, are partly returned to
developers and operators of subway, this has protected the sustainable development goals for
subway as a major social public welfare project at traffic aspect.

6.2.3.4 Comfort and Safety: Effective Guarantee of Underground Space Use

No matter it is transportation, commerce, or other types of urban underground space, comfort and
safety of environment are not only related to the healthy and safety of life and property in
underground, but also directly affect the reputation and benefit of underground facilities. In
developed countries especially in Japan, developers never hesitate to spend high cost and use
advanced technology to ensure more comfort environment and security in underground space. By
unremitting efforts, excellent physical and psychological environment and disaster prevention in
all types of underground facilities have made a great attraction to urban residents. After concluded
the positive and negative experiences of underground street constructions in 1950s and 1960s,
Japan has proposed strict regulations of disaster prevention for the planning and design of
Underground Street in order to ensure the larger and modern underground streets have a reliable
guarantee for safety.
Because of more attention, in the past several decades, among thousands of kilometers of the
world's subway systems and millions of square meters of underground business and service
facilities, there have been no big accident and disaster happened, except for a fire accident in
London subway station because of obsolete equipment and poor management in 1987 and a gas
explosion accident in a small underground street in Japans Shizuoka in 1980.

6.3 Transport Functions of Urban Underground Space

6.3.1 Roles in Transport Function of Urban Underground Space
6.3.1.1 Expanding Technical Supply for Urban Transport Resources
Firstly for the rational transportation structure
(1) Urban underground space can provides environmentally friendly space for rail traffic
being as the backbone of urban massive transport in downtown areas, and supply technical

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methods of strengthening the transfer and connection between subway and other transportation
mode;
(2)Besides feet bridge, at the pedestrian-vehicle mixed area and the transportation crowded
land sector, underground pedestrian road is the most rational and feasible for spatial organizing,
functional optimizing and subway station integrating with traffic and public space of commercials
and recreations, and so on;
(3) A new developing mode has been found for at vehicle crowded land sector and mixed
traffic area, where underground channels integrate and link the dynamic traffics and local
underground parking. For examples, underground driveway systems in La Defense new town in
Paris, Western Core District of Zhongguancun and Financial Street in Beijing, are all of the typical
representatives for underground transport in worlds big city today.
Secondly, in order to avoid the impediment of inner city mountain massif, water body, main
facilities such as train track and airport, or for protection of current structures, historical cultural
heritage and ecology and landscape environment, the road system usually will be interrupted and
have no space available to pass through at ground surface. Then continuous urban road network
cannot be established completely with hierarchical, connectivity and functional structures. In
irrational road sector and road intersection where transport conditions are limited, capacity of the
road traffic is often restricted to meet the rational demand of increasing traffic volume.
In cases above mentioned, underground road channel for vehicles should be planned in order
to meet the road network demand without changing the ground status of current land. Meanwhile,
the goal and request of conservation of current surface environment will be achieved (shown in
Figure 6.10). The significance of urban history succession and user-friendly urban space has made
it an important and inevitable choice that to expand the urban road underground at downtown area
in mega cities, especially at the backbone area of transport network and integrated streets areas
(see 5.5.3), or at the conservation area of a historic cultural city or scenery garden city.

Source: Geng Yongchang, Zhao Xiaohong "the construction of urban underground space" Harbin: Harbin
Institute of Technology Press, 2001.

Figure 6.38 Technical feasibility of Urban underground space for the road
transport system

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6.3.1.2 Underground Space: key factor for integrating rail traffic and land use
High convenient and accessibility of transport in subway station areas promotes high passenger
flow, high-strength land use and interaction between land use and traffic, arising huge production
of commercial profits. Development of underground space at station area not only meets the
demand of increasing service space along with the passenger growth of rail transit, but also
provides financial compensation resources for the contrast between huge investment and
insufficient income of rail transit, and rewards its huge social benefits.
For exampletransference between inter subway stations, subways and other traffic modes,
must complete through underground space, which connects every transport facility and public
space by an uninterrupted path without disturbance by ground traffic in the shortest distances and
in most friendly, comfortable and safe environment. Establishment of perfect three-dimensional
exchange system in underground space can help contribute to the goal of zero distance transfer,
then strengthen highly the comprehensive land use and improve greatly the environment, expand
the space capacity of underground parking, commercial services and cultural facilities. If the
subway station locates under the commercial road, or at transport exchange area, especially at area
of urban trunk road or even where highway passing by, underground transport network will have
much higher benefits for dealing with the mixed traffic situation of vehicle and pedestrian.

6.3.2 Underground Transport Systems

According to the experience from domestic and abroad, urban traffic function which suits the
underground space environment are mainly including: rail transit system, underground parking,
underground pedestrian road, underground motor vehicle roads, three-dimensional transport hub
and underground complexity, and so on. The rail transit system running in underground in the
urban central areas becomes the underground rail transit system, which commonly known as the
subway system; city vehicle roads can be extended to urban mountains, under the rivers, lakes
and any tunnels below ground and underwater, and even go through the underground space in a
building as well as the pedestrian roads. The network and system with series of transport facilities
in underground space, is usually named as urban underground transport space system, or
underground transport system in short. According to their functions, they can be classified into
three systems broadly:
(1) Underground rail transit system, including subway, suburban railway, and light rail
facilities and so on. This system is mainly composed of line rail transport facilities, subway
stations and otherwise. Subway systems have strong capability of delivery, can adapt to a
maximum one-way traffic volume of 30-60 thousand of persons per hour. Even the light rail can
adapt to a maximum one-way traffic volume of 10-30 thousand persons per hour.
Subway systems, which can solve lots of urban travel problems since the world's first subway
was built in the 1860s, have become the backbone of massive transport system for the goal of
coordinated and sustainable development of urban traffic and land use.
(2) Underground motor vehicle transport system, includes underground motor vehicle roads,
underground car parks and otherwise. The underground vehicle roads can be divided into local
vehicle road system within an area and underground express trunk way. From the end of 20th

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century, the underground motor vehicle transport system, particularly the vehicle road system, has
been got further extensive attention, and large urban underground vehicle tunnel projects have
increased in the world. The main reasons of such phenomenon are as follows: although rail transit
could attract some traffic volume from the private cars in passenger traffic above ground , then
reduce ground vehicular traffic volumes and meet the transport needs of public passenger, but
because the time flexibility and comfort level of personal vehicles are much better than rail transit,
the personalized vehicle mode still have necessity to existing . At the same time, due to the
constraints of elevated roads on environmental problems, underground roads, as a fast, safe and
smooth transport mode, shows advantages and becomes a hot spot in international research and
practice fields now a days.
(3) Underground Pedestrian Street system provides pedestrian roads and architectural space
built in subsurface. A number of underground pedestrian roads organized orderly together could
become an underground pedestrian system including underground pedestrian street and underpass.
Underground Pedestrian Street can also be an underground commercial street; underpass is a type
of single-built underground transport facility for people walking across streets or railroad.
Underground pedestrian system can provide extensive improvement in transport efficiency and
combination of user-friendly traffic space.
Urban underground transport systems mentioned above can be planned, constructed and used
either separately or comprehensively. Three-dimensional transportation in large complexity are
generally integrated of the above three systems. Also, these systems can be combined together to
serve for city-class three-dimensional large transport hub with long-distance intercity bus station,
or terminals of rail passenger, airport, port and otherwise.
At present, international communities also began an upsurge of research about underground
freight transport system. Some experts have proposed assumption of comprehensive urban tunnel
that contains large-scale, intensive closed pipeline system, together including subway,
underground vehicle roads, logistics and municipal supply system.

6.3.3 Benefits on Sustainable Urban Transport

Multi-floor land use of underground space and the hidden feature of space can achieve high
efficient land-use, earn win-win results of urban space expansion and environment protection.
Based on the above mentioned, supplement of the roles on sustainability for urban transport
system are summarized as followings:
(1)Underground transportation facilities such as urban subway, underground road,
underground street, can entirely avoid the impact of ground street layout, terrain and topography,
maximize traffic speed, share traffic capacity and reduce traffic accidents of upper ground. For
example, it is possible to choose the shortest distance from starting to destination without ground
influence, and achieve rapid passing of one-way vehicle. In the heavy section of mixed traffic
district, the 3D and hidden-through underground space can avoid and reduce traffic congestion
and improve transport efficiency. Therefore, combined system of underground and upper ground
transportation not only can save land area, but also meet the needs of urban traffic growth and
alleviate problems of road traffic congestion effectively.

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(2) At historical and cultural conservation area, natural ecology and human cultural landscape
preservation regions, higher requirement for environment and security sensitive area and pivotal
district, underground transport can protect the historical landmarks and landscape environment,
improve the urban environment and safety.
(3) Underground parking and underground express way can reduce the land occupancy by
surface parking and elevated bridge piers. Burying municipal facilities (such as electricity poles,
waste dump) underground along road can release large number of road space resources. In the
light of land market mechanism, a lot of land acquisition costs can be saved.
(4) Concentrated treatment of waste air system and sealed tunnel eliminate air pollution and
noise emission from undergrounds vehicle sections.
(5) In contrast with ground road bridge system, underground transport system can resist
various kinds of natural or man-made disasters more easily, and enable urban transport efficiency
and safety, especially in snow and cold area.
(6) Underground transport system can connect directly and integrate every kind of large
underground public spaces and facilities to form underground space network without interruption
like on ground space, and absorb significant portion of traffic volume from ground.

6.4 Interaction between Underground Space Use and Urban

Transport
6.4.1 Impact on Urban Transport of Underground Space Use
Development and utilization of urban underground space directly or indirectly affect the trip
volumes, traffic methods, transportation organizations and the space layout of transport facilities.
(1) Underground space development expands the land use capacity, increases the intensity of
urban land use, and improves the concentration degree of urban space and activities, leads to trip
volume.
(2) Underground space development improves the function of urban land use, produces
demands for new objects and content of urban transportation mode and traffic organizations
(3) Underground space development extends the spatial structure of urban land-use including
the vertical extension of depth land-use and traffic space form, achieves three-dimensional and
integrated space exploitation of underground and aboveground, changes the traditional flatoriented traffic space pattern and the traffic organizations methods.

6.4.2 Demand for Underground Space of Ideal Future Urban

Transport
According to the superiority of underground space and the forecasting result about ideal model of
future urban development in this book, we conclude two viewpoints about the demand of future
urban transport for underground space use:

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(1) The ecological model of future urban transport requires harmony between human and
nature with high efficiency of resources use. This feature needs rational use of urban land
resources and harmony between building space and natural space; the objectives of urban facilities
rational distribution ask for higher requirement of infrastructure reliability and environment
protection, which means rational use of urban space and artificial system. Rational division and
organic organization of urban space in ground and underground is on of the most important way
for making these objectives, characteristics and demands to be true.
(2) The coordination characteristics of future urban transport model requires demand for
coordination and integration of urban transport, land use, transportation mode and transportation
facilities, which means the relevance of human, material flow, vitality and concentration in a city.
The coordination target requests spatial support for transport function, traffic classification and
divergence, three-dimensional traffic organization and connection. Characteristic of high
efficiency, accessibility and user-friendly puts forward higher demands for large traffic capacity,
convenience, safety, reliability and comfortable environment. The realization and satisfaction of
these characteristics and demands all should depend on the expansion and reformation of transport
resources supply. Urban underground space use is one of the most important and effective
technical solutions and directions.

6.4.3 Correlation between Underground Space Development and

Urban Transport & Land Use
Urban transport, land-use and underground space utilization have interactive relationships of
mutual influencing, promoting, demanding and supplying. They can be optimized and combined
as a whole (see Figure 6.11) by the correlative elements of land-use function, strength, vitality, trip
volumes, scales of transportation facilities, function and scales of the underground space use.
Ground space

L1

T1

Land Use

Traffic Facility

airplaneshiprail
carbikewalkingpipeline

Hub
Underground
space

metrocarbike

L2

T2

Land Use

Traffic Facility

walkingpipeline

Figure 6.39 Transport, land use, up to down space and interaction between
demand and impact
In order to insure the relationships between urban rail transit and underground space use, we
surveyed a part of Tokyo-based subway stations at scope of 500-meter radius, obtained the static
index data about the development strength of underground space, land-use and track traffic flow
(LUO Lan, 2008). Results showed that, after decades construction of rail transit and land use
evolution, elements of the amount of passenger flow, the strength of land development, land prices
and the size of underground space development in subway stations of downtown Tokyo, are
uniformly related. Figure 6.12 (a) respectively gives two elements of Tokyo subway Oedo Line
and Osaka Midosuji line stations, one is the amount of passenger flow, the other is the size of

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underground space development. From the figures we obtained that the two elements are positive
relevant. But different land functions in different station areas make natural differences in the
amount of passenger flows and underground space demand, this differs the relevant degree of the
index. Figure 6.12 (b) reflects the total results of 7 Metro lines survey in Tokyo.

Tokyo Oedo Line

Osaka Midosuji line

Figure 6.40 (a) Tokyo and Osaka Station: the relationship between the
elements of the strength of land use with the amount of passenger flow
Horizontal axis: SIZE- the amount of developed underground space: m2
Vertical axis: T-the amount of rail passenger flow in station areas: Thousands of passengers / year

Figure 6.12 (b) Tokyo subway stations: strength of underground space

development and characteristic index of traffic-land
Horizontal axis: SIZE-the amount of developed underground Space Development in station areas: m 2
Vertical axis: CT-the amount of passenger flow in station areas: Thousands of passengers / year,
CR-the area of construction/the land area
CPA-the average land price in station areas: the yen / m2

Regression analysis showed that the independent correlation coefficient of the following
micro-scale element, including the amount of passenger flow, the strength of land-use, the land
use function and the strength of underground space development of station areas, is bigger than
0.5. This means the characteristic of explanatory. Along with the increasing of the amount of
passenger flow, the comprehensive strength of land use, strength of underground space
development is increasing also. Figure 6.13 shows that, the amount of passenger flow, the strength
of land-use (integrated land price index) and the strength of underground space development in

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public area have the highest relevance in traffic type of station area. The indexes of station areas
of residential districts have low relevance with the size of underground space development.
The result of this survey extensively proved that, in the model of land use around rail traffic
nodes, especially in station areas of traffic and commercial type where public activity are
relatively higher, intensive and higher land density and price is uniform with the role of
underground space on enhancement of connecting the functions of commercial and traffic and
unblocking the passenger flow in the commercial and traffic space.

Size of underground space

Amount of passenger flow

Synthesis land price

Commercial

Transport

Residential

Figure 6.41 relevant elements of business, transportation and residential area,

with the integrate land price index.
Horizontal axis: land use function of station area
Vertical axis: relevant index in e scope of station areas

6.5 Planning for Urban Underground Transport System

Different urban underground transport subsystems are relatively independent. It is important to
strengthen the comprehensive planning of underground transport subsystems so that to enhance
the planning coordination between underground and upper ground, in order to establish an
integrate underground transport system for future transport network structure in Chinese big and
mega cities.

6.5.1 Relationships between Underground Space Use and Urban

Transport Planning
Based on analysis of interactive effect between underground space development and urban
transport in 6.4, we can summarize three main points about the rational relationships between
underground space use and urban transport, relevant with the basis of underground urban transport
system planning:
(1) Rational underground space development is an effective source of urban trip volume. The
research of relationships between underground space and land use can integrate and make
technology innovations of the planning and management for both urban traffic and underground
space.

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(2) Urban underground space and underground transport system is multi-objective and
comprehensive, which can take account together for urban commercial, culture, business, dynamic
and static traffic, and the saving of land use and energy. Considering various functions of
underground space comprehensively for constructing urban complexes is the important way to
improve the urban transport system.
(3) Cost and benefits on developing underground space cannot be calculated independently.
In addition to accomplish the basic function, underground space can obtain extra benefits from
multi-floor land use and get comprehensive high benefits of social, history and culture, natural
environment and so on. At many times underground space use is an often irreplaceable choice, so
that it should be paid special attention and preference in policy and regulations making and
management.

6.5.2 Characteristics
Planning

of

Underground

Transport

System

for

Physical characteristics, relationships and other features about the functions, knowledge subjects
and inter subsystems of underground space are the basis of planning making for urban
underground transport system.
(1) Basic physical characteristics of underground space can be extended to that of multi layer
land use, non-reversibility, high cost, relatively poor natural lighting and ventilation,
environmental sensitive and geological stability.
(2) Underground space is an organic part of urban function system, sharing most urban
functions and can play key roles on the intensive spatial development.
(3) Research of underground space utilization is an integration of multi-disciplines, which
involves in urban planning and architecture, land use planning, transportation planning,
engineering geology, civil engineering, ecology and environmental protection, cultural and
historical heritage conservation, transport facilities and vehicles, computer technology, intelligent
transport and information systems(ITS), economics, regulations, policies, management and many
other disciplines and technical categories.
(4)Underground space involves many of the urban functions, transportation mode,
organization and integration of space. Only comprehensive planning can coordinate these
relationships of all aspects by taking the advantages of underground and upper ground, and
maximize the value of urban transport and land use.

6.5.3 Spatial Configurations of Underground Transport System

Underground transport system shows non-continuity in space shapes: firstly, it is composed of
point shape transport facilities and dynamic linear traffic facilities, showing non-continuity in
plane; secondly, underground transport system can be exploited by levels to form multi level
complex at different time, showing non-continuity in vertical direction. Additionally, underground
space has strong irreversibility that once spatial form has been accomplished, it is difficult to
restore to the original condition, but only can be adjusted by adding new elements to it. According

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to the characteristics of spatial configuration, an integrate research and planning for underground
transport network system must be made with reference to the following detailed points:
(1) Point shape facility is the basic unit of underground transport by which urban transport
function is arranged in underground space, such as subway station, underground garage, and so
on. Along with the development of subway system, areas of subway stations as the joint centers of
convergence and distribution between rail traffic and ground transport, can be formed to an 3-D
space complexity which integrates traffic, commercial, cultural and recreation functions. It is the
most complex and senior architectural pattern of underground functional monomer.
(2) Subway line, underground pedestrian and underground motor road system are the linier
shape facility of underground transportation. Among them, subway line is the longest and the most
important constituent; underground commercial streets are often built neighboring subway;
underpasses are often linked with the subway station; underground motor roads system and
subway systems also link inextricably.
(3) Subway not only has the traffic function, but also undertakes important part in connecting
and integrating transport and urban land use, and has impact on underground spatial
configurations and arrangements. Establishment of underground public network system is the goal
of underground traffic system by taking rail transit network as macro background and backbone,
combined with the traditional and other underground transportation mode. In urban transport hub
area particularly, subway and underground parking, underground roads, underground pedestrian
street and so on, can constitute an integrate network both of ground and underground with
business services and traffic spaces.

6.5.4 Network Structures of Urban Underground Transport System

In current system of urban transportation planning, underground space has not been taken into
account as planning process and content. Planning of underground transport system itself is still in
the stage of decomposition and conversion from the original results of the urban transport
planning. There is still little integrated research on urban traffic and urban underground transport
planning at the total urban scope.
Because of the strong independence and professionalism of the underground transport
subsystems and trend of underground space use showing more and more as a "network" and
"system", it is necessary to emphasis the necessity of research and planning of underground
transport system integrated with urban transportation and land-use planning.
In comprehensive planning of urban underground and traffic, attention must be paid to the
orientation, conformity, and integration of all the subsystems, so that the underground transport
system and network can be formed gradually. In planning and management, basic points of
following should be made clear:
(1)Subway system must be the backbone transport mode for coordinated development of
urban transportation and land use in big cities. And it should be strengthened to improve the
coordinate relationship by underground space development combined and integrated with all the
transportation modes.

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(2) Regions of urban transport node, as represented by the subway station areas, is the key
zone of urban underground space development and important areas of urban land-use.
(3) Underground vehicle roads is an important approach to expand transport resources and
optimize the spatial configuration in urban central and key areas; underground pedestrian road is
important and spatial component to combine subway with other traffic modes, connect and
integrate land functional blocks by underground transport network.
(4) Underground parking is the key mode and developing direction for social vehicles in big
cities.
(5) Backbone system of urban freight transport and underground logistics systems will be the
next and important objective for urban transport.
(6) Intensive large-scale closed pipeline including subway, underground road, logistics and
municipal supply system should be a new kind of major transport mode in urban areas.

6.5.5 Approaches to Underground Transport Planning

In current process of Chinas urban underground space planning, underground transport system
should contain by independent sub-systems in accordance with the nature and types:
(1) Underground rail transit system;
(2) Urban underground motor vehicles System;
(3) Underground pedestrian road system;
(4) Underground parking system;
(5) Underground three-dimensional transport hub;
(6) Underground logistics system.
(8) Integration process or intensive system on the basic independent sub-systems.
In methodology and programs of planning, the first step is to study the urban comprehensive
transport planning which directly corresponds to every independent subsystem of underground
transport. Secondly, according to the urban transport objectives given by the urban transport
planning and each of other transport special plans, confirm the traffic functions which needs and
suits to underground; then make sure of the correspond relationships of underground transport
system and urban transport system, and make sure of each the content and tasks of underground
space planning subsystem. Finally, deepen and optimize underground transport subsystems
separately, and research issues of integrated and cross-cutting between underground and ground
space systems, different subsystems of the underground space, and then coordinate and integrate
these issues.

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6.6 Progress of Worlds Urban Underground Freight Transit

System (UFTS) & Underground Logistics System (ULS)
The moving of urban material such as the transportation of goods, mails, waste, and flow of water,
gas, energy and information, composes the urban logistics system which is the material base of
urban life. The goods traffic has accounted a great proportion in municipal transport, and makes a
large contribution to the problems of traffic congestion, shortage of energy, environmental
pollution and security issues. Underground Freight and Logistics System (UFLS) aims in
establishing urban cargo system by a new transportation mode with network, backbone and
specialized underground tube systems, in order to improve the efficiency of goods transportation
and logistics distribution in urban areas without the impact on traffic congestion , environment and
security caused by the entire ground cargo system. UFLS is emerging in the international field
from the end of 20th century to now a day. Five international seminars had been held and caused a
considerable attention in China.

6.6.1 Composition and Characteristics of Underground Logistics

System (ULS)
Urban Underground Logistics Systems (ULS) transport the goods processed outside the city at the
Logistics Park at the city edges by the logistics tube system through underground space to various
inner city terminals, including supermarkets, factories and transfer stations. The reverse logistics
from the inner city to the city outside is similar (Xiaofang Nie,2003).
There have been different approaches and applications of underground logistics systems in
different countries. But the basic concept and technology are the same, namely, the unmanned,
automatic control, using linear motor technology and automatic scanning and controlling.
Netherlands and some other countries divide the underground logistics information system into
control layer, physical layer, and external coordination with the outside world.

Figure 6.42 image of underground logistics system14

14

Source: Liu, Henry 2005 Feasibility of Underground Freight Transport in New York City:
Lessons Learned and Implications to Other Major Cities in the World [C]. Proc., 4nd International
Symposium on Underground Freight Transport, Beijing, China
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6.6.2 Significance of Underground Logistics System (ULS)

Cargo and commodity are the rigid demands of city's production and consumption. With urban
development and the growth of quantity and quality of commodity consumption, the demand of
commodity supply and service quality, logistics types and the quantity and methods of logistics
distribution must be increased. That means the demand for logistics transport volume and the land
occupancy of cargo will increase definitely also. There is a challenge for the urban goods
transportation vehicle, communication mode, fuel structure and the environmental pollution
problem from increasing freight transport demand.
ULS is a clean-fuel-driven and mass cargo systems which is operated in tunnels and closed
pipeline, so its easy to set up a transport organization system with network and intelligent
management. It has an obvious role in increasing efficiency, accuracy, security and the reliability
of freight transport systems, easing traffic congestion, reducing the emission of environmental
pollution and the destruction of landscape, while conserve land occupancy, resist bad weather and
terrorist attacks as well as possible.

6.6.3 Global Progress of Research and Practice on ULS

Developed countries have focused on the development of underground logistics system recent
years, and there are plenty of practical experiences (Guodong Jun, 2005). It mainly includes: In
Japan, because of the limitation of land and natural resources, high population density, the
development of underground freight transport systems are highly regarded. At present they pay
more attention to research of material transport systems of either circular pipeline with diameter
from 0.5 m to 1 m, or the square balloon pipeline with length of side 1 m PCP, and design length
of over 200 kilometers, to be used for municipal solid waste and ore transportation. Japan plans to
connect underground logistics with ground logistics to form logistics network, carrying 36 percent
of the Japanese surface freight. Germany has studied the underground Cargo Cap for transport
logistics and distribution systems from 1998, the diameter is of 1.6 m, using air power-driven,
scrolls bearing the weight of goods, and motor driving when they are unmanned, the design speed
is from 36 km/h to 50km/h, The overall effect is less consumption of energy, low-cost of the
environment, efficient intelligence, and without interruption to ground. United States have been
built the "Tubexpress" system in the state of Georgia. The current research focuses on hydraulic
capsule of pipeline transport HCP and linear motor-driven pipeline transportation. Feasibility
studies of underground logistics systems in New York City and Chicago have been finished.
Netherlands has been studying the feasibility of transit point connecting Amsterdam airport,
Aalsmeer Flower Market and Hoofddorp from 1996, aiming at delivering time-sensitive goods
such as fresh flowers. Netherlands has completed the only logistics system of the modern concept.
In the early 20st century, Britain was the first to use the underground rail system to transit mail
packets, operating 19 hours a day. At the peak hour, it could deal with nine states and more than 40
000 000 letters and parcels, and planning to use the system to distribute the goods of the shops on
Oxford Street.

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6.6.4 Key to Underground Logistics System Development

ULS is a transport mode and system which highly integrates multi-disciplinary technology. Taking
urban planning, logistics and transportation planning as a guide, transport vehicles and the
intelligent control system of information command as the core technology, civil engineering
technology as the construction support, and the economics methods as a comprehensive evaluation
standards, such a cross-cutting and comprehensive study is the main feature of technical
integration of ULS. Generally speaking now, ULS has the technical feasibility.
Huge risks of investment and uncertainty of the benefits are the main obstacles to develop
ULS. Although the costs of operation and maintenance of underground logistics system are lower
than the costs of comprehensive ground freight system, the initial investment of ULS is so large
that the recovery of funds is very slow. So it can not be compared directly with the Ground
Logistics System. How to gain the return in the logistics system is the enormous risk and doubt.
However, environmental and social effects of ULS are very significant. According to five
feasibility studies of ULS in New York (Liu, Henry, 2005), cost-effectiveness calculations shows
that: through scientific planning and rational design, and based on the insurance of safety,
reliability and efficiency, ULS could still gain the long-term benefits by the methods of reducing
the system complexity, initial construction costs and maintenance costs, while extending the
systems living time.
At the same time, we should notice the probability that underground logistics system achieve
overall social benefits depends on whether there is a sufficient and stable leading cargo flow in a
city. Economic development of a city and logistics rigid needs, one-way or two-way cargo
transport demand strength are the key points to decide the survival of underground logistics
system.

6.6.5 Direction and Topics of ULS Development in China

(1)Important regions and content of logistics research
At present, there are only a few mega-cities in China which fit to develop underground
logistics system, such as in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou which have high developed
economics, urban transport contradictions background, and adequate strength of material transit
flow. When some special logistics got an adequate strength in any direction, and enough social and
environmental benefits can be looking for ward, it can give priority to develop the professional
underground distribution systems. In the city group of major cities, we could also consider the
inter-city underground Logistics System ( Guo Zhan Quan, 2006). In logistics transportation, we
can give priority to waste collection and transport, mail delivery, agricultural products and
clothing wholesale, transshipment of containers. Feasibility study of the logistics system should be
taken at areas between logistic parks or between logistic park and underground distribution center,
in order to get experience of technical and economic evaluation.
(2) Overall benefit and risk analysis of ULS
ULS is a high input, high-quality urban freight transport system. Comprehensive efficiency
depends on finding, forecasting, judging and making sure of the logistics types and transport
direction. When there is a certain direction of sufficient strength and stability flow of logistics,

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high income through high efficiency of transportation can be achieved, as well as getting benefits
from easing problems of traffic congestion, environmental pollution and conservation of fuel and
land occupy.
(3) Key topics of research work

Relationships between the ULS and the urban master planning, transportation and land
use, and logistic planning;

Feasibility of union-construction of subway tunnel and ULS; Demand forecasting of

city-led cargo flow;

Planning model of urban logistic network and node system;

Planning structures of underground logistics system;

Evaluation tools and policy guidance research of overall benefits.

Considered structures of the ULS network includes: Backbone networkLocal area network,
Distributional structure; Backbone systemExtensive system--Terminal system. The logistic line
could be considered as dedicated lines, hierarchical structure of backbone access lines and
secondary lines.
In short, underground logistics, as a new way of logistics, is getting more and more attention
that the applying prospect is broad. Based on the actual national conditions, China should not
invest without enough analysis, furthermore, to hesitant to advance. Through dialectic and
scientific thinking, objective analysis of actual local demand and fully demonstrated viability of
the premise of the project, urban underground logistic system in China might actively, effectively
and rationally be promoted in the future.

6.7 Problems and Directions of Urban Underground Transport

System in China
6.7.1 Particularities of Urban Underground Space Use under Rapid
Urbanization Background in China
Underground spaces functions, scales, space configurations and developing patterns are
determined by the citys developing stage and economics, population and land pressures,
environment quality and protection, and many other factors. Comparing Chinese conditions with
developed abroad countries can tell us the characteristics that should be taken into account for
urban underground space development in China.
(1)Because of the large populations and higher population density in Chinese cities,
developing scales of urban underground spaces and the number of big cities which needs
underground will greatly exceed USA, Japan, Canada, etc.
(2)Larger population, greater strength of population mobility must make higher density and
intensity of urban underground spaces in China than in developed countries. This background

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demands a higher standard of necessity for security, convenience and reasonable planning of
underground spaces.
(3)In comparison with urbanization in developed countries, Chinese citizens education level
and science literacy are lagging behind, and so are the urban management and the level of laws
and regulations. These are not good for people properly realizing the principles of urban
underground space development, especially may guide to planning lack of forward-looking and
even waste the underground space resource.
4 The requirement for underground space resources is not in accordance with its
potential locations for development. In urban central areas where more space and high
accumulative effect needed, the potential of underground resources are often in shortage because
of the high density of existing buildings. In developing areas, situation is contrary. Thus, planning
is especially important to take the chance of old cuties renewing and preservation, the chance of
new cuties construction, and not forget to protect the resources.

6.7.2 Primary Problems of

Development in China

Urban

Underground

Transport

(1) Insufficient understanding of underground space resources.

According to experiences from developed countries and regions, underground space can be
exploited only after the average GDP of the city is above 1 000 USD which many cities have
exceeded in China, as an example, the average GDP of Beijing is 7370USD (Beijing Daily, 2008)
in 2007. But the advantages of underground space are not totally realized such as mitigating the
pressures of land use and urban traffic, increasing capacity of urban infrastructures, improving
urban functions and environment. This makes the lacks and delays of underground space planning
and management.
(2) Insufficient understanding in long-term planning and integration of underground traffic
System.
Rail traffic construction, travel structure of passengers and connection with public transport
has been taken into account in most of big cities. But comprehensive and systemic studies are still
deficient in land use and transportation hubs, as example that the underground space development
around subway stations has not been paid into enough attention. Rarely successful examples can
be found except the traffic hub in Luohu, Shenzhen, China.
(3) Developed projects were in small scale, and only in shallow stratum without systemic coordination mechanism.
Except the subway networks, transport facilities are only developed in local areas. At the
same time, rapid subway construction fails in making fine connection between subway stations
with other transportation modes. Underground dynamic transport facilities do not use the
underground roads sufficiently; subways havent composed the system integrated by planning
with other underground space like parking garages.
(4) Poor connectivity between every kind of underground spaces.

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According to investigations, most of the existing underground spaces have independent

entrances and exits, only 20 percent were connected with the civil defense channels. Connectivity
between subway, underground parking garages and other spaces is still in poor condition which
make low attraction and convenient.
(5)Lack of uniform planning and management
According to the advanced foreign experiences, development of ground and underground
spaces should be uniformly planned and constructed. Problems with the management system in
China show that the separated managing of ground and underground spaces has great difficulty to
make uniform planning and constructed and impacts badly on operating and management of
underground traffic facilities, and confuses the management of investment and financing.

6.7.3 Direction and Strategies of Urban Underground Transport in

China
In theory, all kinds of car traffics are fit for underground space in order to leave the ground for
people and open space. But this issue is so much complicated and costly that the operation of
approach should be divided into two steps: step 1, leave most car traffic on the ground, and attract
most pedestrian into underground by constructing high quality environments for underground rail
transport system, walking system and other kinds of urban functional facilities; step 2, make most
car traffics go underground, leaving the ground for construction of walk roads and large green
space and keeping the existing underground walk road system in order to connect different
underground spaces especially in case of bad weather. The planning research and management of
underground spaces should be strengthened in following aspects:
(1) Realizing the key roles of subway on urban traffic; developing subway networks and hubs
enormously and constructing large-scale urban underground space networks system.
(2) Constructing strategically the subway system as the backbone of urban traffic
supplemented by underground vehicle roads, parking garages and pedestrian system, in order to
meet needs of urban traffic functions.
(3) Taking researches in advance on the large-scale integrated complex combined with multi
transport patterns and municipal utilities; taking uniform planning and construction activity to
meet the modernization and intensive trend of infrastructures in Chinese large cities for future.

6.8 Conclusion
This chapter discussed the effect, thinking and directions of urban underground space use for
solving the urban traffic problems. The current and futures main tasks of urban underground
space use and the development for urban underground transportation system in China are the
research, planning and constructions of subway systems and let it be the backbone of urban traffic
network supplemented by other of multi underground space systems. It is the best time and chance
today to construct underground public space systems around subway station areas which can
combine and integrate the multi transport systems with land use together based on the subway
system. Detailed conclusions and suggestions are as follows:

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(1) Underground space is an environmentally friendly resources of urban development. The

characteristics of multi-floor land use, hidden and enclosed environment of underground space
provides an efficient way to optimize urban land use and increase urban transport supply by 3-D
transport development including methods of traffic classifying, stratifying, and distributaries.
These advantages also work in protecting urban nature & historic environment, improving
capabilities of urban infrastructures and disaster prevention.
(2) For big cities in China, it is highly suggested to develop underground transport system
combined with underground public space around areas of subway station which can help form
harmonic development module incorporated with land use and traffic. Secondly, focus on the
construction of underground vehicle roads to optimize the road network; emphasize underground
garage as the most important approaches for car parking at central and protected areas in big
cities. Thirdly, use underground pedestrian streets to connect the dispersing plots and the rail
traffic stations. Finally, bring all above mentioned together to construct the urban traffic system
and network combined with underground space so that to make the subway network as the
developing axes, and the subway stations as the integrated developing sources of both land use
and transport.
In middle size cities or less centralized regions in China, development of underground space
and construction of the underground traffic system should mainly be focused on mixed use facility
combining with civil defense functions, to meet the need of residential and social parking
particularly. Establishment of underground pedestrian system for people and the facilities of
business and cultures etc could be considered especially in cities of bad weathers,
(3) Underground transport should be taken into account for urban planning systems in order
to make the underground space unified with other special transport planning, and make the
underground space planning to be a regular part and process of urban planning. Consideration of
further healthier development of underground space and utility, it is urgent to begin the research
of regulations and policies on setting up guarantee systems of the underground space resources.
Cost and benefit of society, environment and economics of underground space utilization should
be comprehensively analyzed by considering the long terms integrate benefit during planning
making for underground transport.
(4) Subway system and important infrastructures should be planned as a unified integration
and collaboratively constructed. And comprehensive tunnels and road network which includes rail
traffic, freeway, logistics and utilities should be constructed also as an integration to aggressively
reduce the city operation costs, increase the efficiency and improve the security of the city.

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[6] GENG Yongchang ZHAO Xiaohong, 2001. Urban underground buildings, Harbin, Harbin
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[7] Department of civil engineering, Tsinghua University. 2005. Research report of urban
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[10]Department of civil engineering, Tsinghua University, 2006. Research report of Urban
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[11]GUO Dongjun; CHEN Zhilong; QIAN Qihu, 2005. Discussion on Developing Underground
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[12]GUO Zhanquan; SHI Xiaodong, 2006. Prospect of Development of Underground Logistic
System in Beijing. Chinese Journal of Underground Space and Engineering. Vol (2):12601263
[13]He Jinchao; Sun Lijun; Hong Wei; 2007. Implementation Program for the Underground Space
of Zhujiang New Town Core Area, Guangzhou.Architectual Journal. 2007(6):37-40
[14]LUO Lan. 2008. A Correlation Research between Underground Space Development and
Transport-land Features of Subway Station Areas. Master's degree thesis of TsingHua
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[15]LI Xuemei, 2000. Mining space resources to address urban transport problems:Japan's urban
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Chapter 7 Urban Sustainable Mobility and Transportation

Demand Management
7.1 Introduction
From 1980s, traffic engineers all over the world have realized that unbalanced urban transport
demand and supply is the cause of traffic congestion, and this problem cant be solved by simply
increasing transport supply. Then the concept of transportation demand management (TDM) was
gradually introduced, now it is commonly accepted that the traffic congestion has to be addressed
from both supply and demand sides.
TDM is the method based on travel demand mechanism and time-space consumption
character using measures such as economic incentives, planning and designs, policies and
regulations, etc. to manage, control, restrict or guide transportation demand, reduce the total
amounts and build the dynamic equilibrium of transport demand and supply.
Broadly speaking, TDM refers using traffic policies and measures to guide the changing of
travel behavior, reduce total vehicle trips, giving priorities to the modes with lower social cost,
change the temporal distribution, relieve traffic congestion. Narrowly speaking TDM indicates the
integrated policies and measures used to cut the total car traffic in the peak period.
Under moderate transportation system supply, the aim of TDM is to control the total transport
demand and reduce the unnecessary travel. That is by reducing or decentralizing the transport
demand to promote the balance between transport demand and supply, ensure the high operation
level of the system, transport passengers and commodities to destination rapidly and safely, revive
the traffic congestion, reduce the energy consumption of transportation systems, and improve the
environment and resident life quality.

7.2 Travel demand mechanism

In socio-economic activities, passengers, goods and information need to move from one place to
another place, and this makes transportation a basic activity to enhance the social interaction and
promote economic development. Because the activities of city residents such as work, going to
school, business, shopping, recreation, visiting friends, cant be achieved in only one place, people
need spatial movement to achieve the diversified purpose. Raw material and final products of
most factories are seldom on the same palace, so producers need to be transferred by
transportation facilities in order to gain more profits.
Travel may not happen even there are transport demands. Because the total utility getting
from the entire activities to traveler is composed of two parts, one is the positive effect received at
the destination, the other is the cost spent on the trip. The negative effect of travel is related to
travel time, cost, effort consumption. Travelers will value the total benefit getting from the whole

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activity and make the decision on when, how to complete the travel or just cancel it.
The elasticity varies with different transportation demands. For certain types of the travel,
people can get more benefits at the destination compared with the cost spent in the trip, so the
elasticity is lower, such as commuting, or going to school. While to some other types such as
recreation, shopping, because there are more choices, the elasticity is much bigger.
The measures of TDM are based on the characteristics of elasticity as mentioned above to
reduce the elastic transportation demand and improve the operational efficiency of the
transportation system (Zhang Yongbo, 2006)

Figure 7.43 Relationship between transportation demand and TDM

TDM is to achieve less elastic transportation demand and uniform distribution of rigid
transportation demand as far as possible. But transportation system is a complex and open system
in time and space, and it is coupled with other systems of city, so its very difficult to gain all the
goals. In practice it is hard to acquire the success of TDM just using one measure, all agree that
the aim can be achieved but based on comprehensive measures and systemic analysis of the
elasticity of transport.

7.3 Framework of TDM

From the point of generation mechanism of transportation demand, we can see that there are
differential elasticity and strong temporal-spatial distribution character. The starting points of
TDM is to utilize the characteristics of transportation demand, and take measures from each step
of transportation demand and different aspects to achieve the goals of improving transportation
system efficiency, lowing energy consumption and reducing environment influence.

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Figure 7.44 Process of TDM

The main contents of TDM include five following parts from the view of transportation
generation process.
At the transportation generation step, its necessary to reduce the total travel amount. If
some daily activities of the residents can be completed at the local community, a lot low efficient
transport demand can be canceled. The methods can be used in this step include encouraging
residents complete the activity in community by land use planning and community design, using
information transmission instead of travel, changing the travel habits by economic incentives,
policy induced and public option propaganda.
At the stage of transportation distribution, its necessary to uniform the traffic flow from
the entire time and space scope. One reason of traffic congestion is that excessive transportation
demand focusing on a fixed place. At the stage of urban planning and city construction, its
important to make the city function reasonable aggregation and scatter. For example, large service
facilities and main residential area should not be set in one place, so to avoid attracting excessive
transportation demand beyond the supply capacity of the same palace.
At the stage of mode choice, measures should be taken to shift transportation demand to
more sustainable transport mode. Public transit system is more efficient than private car and meets
the comprehensive goals of sustainable development. In TDM, methods like fare subsides can be
applied to increase the use of bus and subway. And congestion toll or more parking fee can be
used to restrict the use of private cars. Promoting ridesharing or car sharing is also important.
At the stage of route choice, its important to let more people use the un-congested routes.
Wage subsides and congestion toll can be used to change the route choice behavior. It is also
useful to provide real time information to travelers for their route decisions to improve the
efficiency.
At the stage of departure time choice, more traffic volume should be transferred to flat
period from peak period. For example, advanced information technologies can provide guidance
to travelers. Other measures like flex time work arrangement.
The main measures of TDM are listed in table 7-1.
Table 7.4 List of TDM measures
Purpose

TDM Strategy

Relationship to sustainable transport

Reduce total
demand

Land use and

community planning

Conservation of resource, friendly community

environment, improved accessibility

Reduce total
demand

Telecommuting

No consumption on transportation

Transportation
Demand
redistribution

Urban infrastructure
layout planning

Reduce the congestion caused by the demand

centralization

Travel mode

Develop mass transit

Promote the use of public transit

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switch
Travel mode
switch

transit priority

Promote the use of public transit

Travel mode
switch

Congestion pricing

Advance the use of transit

Change the spatial distribution of traffic flow

Change Route
choice

Release the congestion and other negative impacts

Departure time
re-scheduling
Travel mode
switch

Parking pricing

Restrict car use, advance the use of transit

Travel mode
switch

Ridesharing

Restrict car use, advance the use of transit

Change Route
choice

Traffic information
service

Car sharing
Change the spatial distribution of traffic flow
Release the congestion and other negative impacts

Departure time
re-scheduling
Departure time
re-scheduling

Flex-time work

Reduce the demand in rush hour

Release the congestion and other negative impacts

Form table 7-1, we can see that many different measures can be used in TDM. This research
choose three main methods for depth analysis, which are land use, congestion toll and information
technology. Note that it is necessary to take comprehensive measures in TDM practice according
the special character of each city to achieve the aims though each measure is discussed
individually here.

7.4 Land use strategy and TDM

7.4.1 Relationship between land use and transportation demand
There are close interactions between urban land use form and transportation system. On the one
hand, urban land use form determines the total amount, distribution and flow of transportation
demand. On the other hand, the transport system will drive the land development and urban
economic progress. The development level and spatial distribution of urban land use will change
the urban form. In modern cities, transport, land use and population distribution are the three
pillars of urban space form, and they determine the future of city together. But in practice most of
the cities are unsuccessful between land use and transportation system as scholars expectations.
The main reason is that in practice we often overemphasize the impact of land use on transport
system, while ignore the direction influence of transport system on land use form. There is lack of
feedback between land use planning and transport system.
Land use strategies have far-reaching influences on urban transport system. They can reduce

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the total vehicle traffic and have direct or indirect impacts on other aspects of travel, such as travel
frequency, departure time, route choice, travel mode choice. So land use strategies are very useful
on cutting down the urban transport demand.

7.4.2 Land use strategies for reducing transport demand

There are close relationships between land use and transport demand. And land use forms have
long-term influences on city development, so land use strategy possesses an important place in the
framework of TDM strategy. Only when there is a good basis on land use forms, can it guarantee
the relative rationality of transport demand.
TDM is an efficient means to promote the harmony between land use and transport system. It
is possible to achieve the integration between land use and transport by combination of strategic
planning and TDM strategy. The integration of land use and urban transport is an efficient method
to organize the urban transport and improve the land use benefits.
According the foregoing analysis, under the condition of meeting definite social-economic
goals, it is necessary to deal with land use agglomeration and disperse, to reduce the transport
demand, and to realize the sustainable development. Based on this, this research suggests the main
strategy of constructing reasonable urban land use form. Clustered city configuration should be
accepted and the TOD mode should be emphasized, specially when there are following characters.
(Wang, Jianwei, 2003)
Table 7.5 TDM and land use strategy
Goals of TDM

Land use measures

Reduce total demand

Spread control, urban comprehensive planning

Uniform OD demand distribution,

Mixed land use, clustered city configuration,

short the travel distance

zone management, street design

Switch to more efficient travel mode

TOD mode, city design restricting car use

(1) Moderate concentration and decentralization of land use spatial distribution

The moderate concentration refers to put the land with related industry together in order to
increase the economic benefits of land use patterns under the principle of scale effects. At the
same time, land use with different functions should be separated so as to avoid the un-efficient
travel and round.
The results of moderate concentration and decentralization of land use are obvious. It will
form some independent function clusters, which have their own comparative advantage and
characteristic. These clusters will decentralize the function of city center and realize the different
functions. At the stage of planning the clusters should set along the main public transit line as far
as possible.
(2) Balance between residents and employments in clusters
Mixed land use based on residential area and employment area can reduce total vehicle traffic
efficiently. Land used for resident is special in city. It is dependent with moderate concentration

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and decentralization principle. Residential land should support other functions in each cluster. Or
there will be some place with too many residents and will produce too much tide traffic flow
decreasing the efficiency. How to balance the residents and employments? The simple answer is
work nearest should be encouraged.
(3) Characteristic and synthesis functions of clusters
The formation of city clusters is the result of function aggregation, while this doesnt mean
that one cluster can only have only one special function. Otherwise this layout will produce
unreasonable transport demand and the pure cluster often goes to death easily. So what is called
concentration and decentralization is relative. If we want to build a city with several centers,
various land use form like residence, recreation, shopping, education, etc. should be adopted
simultaneity.
From the balance of residence and industry/office, the special character is an important factor
attracting employments. The other activities these people needed should be accomplished by other
tertiary industries. These will make the community a compositive cluster.
(4) Rank and size of city clusters
Land use form with multiple centers requires there are grade in clusters size and function.
These help the operations of each city center and facility the city development and evolution. J.M.
Tomsson referred four ranks of city as city center-area center-suburb center-neighborhood. The
aim of this rank is to build different centers to reduce the total vehicle traffic. The main function of
neighborhood and suburb center is daily life services. The main function of center area is to
provide some employments and shopping establishments. The city center is the social-economic
focus all over the city.
(5) Transport links among city clusters
Corresponding transportation system must be set up in order to advance the formation of
clustered city configuration. The transportation system can be divided into two levels, transport
links in clusters and links among clusters. The principle of promoting public transit and utilizing
present infrastructures furthest should be accepted to all transport system setting.
Public transit system is more sustainable. So the main transport link should be fulfilled with
railway and/or bus. The layout of the whole transport system is multiple centers and radiation. The
most congested links maybe the roads which are the overlap parts of the transport. Most of the
residents travel can be accomplished in its own cluster.
Land use form is an important causation of transportation demand production and temporalspatial distribution. The land use style of moderate concentration and decentralization can uniform
the transportation distribution and it is useful for city development in long-term.

7.5 Congestion toll and TDM

7.5.1 Motives of urban congestion toll
Congestion toll is a strategy where transportation system users are charged for their use of

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transportation facilities. Congestion toll is a market or demand based strategy designed to

encourage a shift of peak period trips to off-peak periods or to routes away from congested
facilities during the peak demand periods. Congestion toll proposes to moderate the congestion
and environmental costs associated with congested traffic flows, in particular delay, air pollution,
but also accident occurrence.
(1) Congestion toll can promote the transport structure suitable with city development. The
development of urban transport is restricted by many factors and especially the mode split.
Congestion toll is a means using economic levers to adjust the transport mode split and to realize
the Pareto improvement. It can promote transport system more sustainable.
(2) Every city has restriction from its population, resources, environment capacity. Not only
the city development must satisfy the current demand of city residents, but also realize the
harmonious coexistence under the condition of meeting future transport demand. As an economic
and policy means, congestion toll can change travelers habits and support the idea of sustainable
development.
(3) Congestion toll can promote the realization of more efficient, equitable, multi-level
transportation service. Congestion toll can reduce total demand and uniform the distribution so it
can improve the efficiency. Congestion toll urges road users to pay the actual social cost and
restrict the use of private cars. Multi-level means that congestion toll can change the traffic flow
patterns from different aspects.

7.5.2 Economic principle of congestion toll

Traffic congestion has many additional external effects such as longer travel time, more
environmental pollution and resources waste. The difference between marginal social cost and
marginal individual cost is the start point of congestion toll. Figure 7.3 depicts the economic
principle of congestion toll. Point A is the intersection of marginal social cost curve with demand
curve. Each rational traveler is selfish, so he will consider marginal individual cost only. Under
this condition the system will attend point B which is the intersection of marginal individual cost
curve with demand curve. The loss of social surplus is ABC at the equilibrium point B. If every
user is tolled with the cost difference |AA|, the marginal social cost will equal marginal individual
cost, and the system benefit is maximum at point A.

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Figure 7.45 The difference between marginal social and individual cost
Generally speaking, road user cost is composed of vehicle operation cost and time cost. The
vehicle operation cost includes fuel cost and vehicle wear cost. Time cost refers the value of time
spent on the journey. Usually the vehicle operation cost changes a little under the same travel,
while the travel time cost varies when congestion happens. The time delay cost can be calculated
by the product of journey time and value of time. The journey time is determined by the average
speed and traffic flow volume. If value of time is known, its easy to obtain the total cost.
According to the research of Else 1982, the marginal cost has the following expression.
(7-1)

MPC C r t (v )VOT
Here Cr is the vehicle operation cost. t is the travel time and related to traffic volume.

Based on the classical model of Green-shields v v f (1

k
) , and the formula
it
kJ
Q kv

is easy to get the time-flow curve(Wang Wei, 2000)in figure 7.4 If we assume under the
congested condition, the vehicle operation cost Cr is relative smaller, and the travel time cost is
larger. We can ignore the Cr and the marginal individual cost is the function of travel time only.
The relationship of marginal individual cost and traffic flow volume is depicted in figure 7.5.

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Figure 7.46 Travel time-volume relationship

Figure 7.47 Marginal cost- volume

relationship

Figure 7.48 Travel cost-volume relationship

Figure 7.49 Traffic speed-volume speed

From figure 7.5 we can find that the marginal individual cost increase with traffic volume
before the traffic reaches road capacity, when the traffic volume is beyond the capacity the traffic
volume decrease while the marginal individual cost continue increasing. The curve is bending
backwards. Figure 7.6 indicates the relationship between travel cost and traffic flow under
different demand conditions.
Figure 7.7 is the typical relationship of speed and volume on urban roads. Traffic flow has
two states called normal flow and forced flow. In the analysis of road congestion toll, the normal
flow section is adopted so the equilibrium point of demand and supply is E1. The marginal social
cost curve is MSC1 in figure 7.6. MSC1 is bigger than the average individual cost and
approximating infinite when traffic flow is close to the road capacity. (Hai Yang et.al., 1998)
Marginal social cost curve has the same shape as marginal individual cost curve. Although
the backwards part of the curve can be analyzed mathematically, it can seldom be observed in
practice. So it is useless when determining the congestion toll. Only the up part of the timevolume curve will be adopted in the following discussion. As figure 7.8 shows, before toll the
marginal individual cost curve is MPC, and the equilibrium point is E. When charging with |DF|,
marginal individual cost curve will be changed to MPC, and the system will attend a new
equilibrium point F.

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Figure 7.50 Welfare analysis of congestion toll

Welfare changes of different groups related with congestion toll are calculated in table 7-3
based on the figure 7.8.

Table 7.6 Welfare analysis of congestion toll

Social surplus
Traffic
volume

Average
individual cost

Before toll

After toll

Change

CFL-EFH

CFL

Increase EFH

Qb

Qa

Cr t (Qb )VOT

Cr t (Qa )VOT | DF |

Reduce Qb

Qa

Increase | DF |

(t (Qa ) t (Qa ))VOT

Transport manager

DFHJ

Increase DFHJ

Charged road users

OJEQb

OKFQa

Reduce OJEQ

b -OKFQ
a

Note and refer the inner graphics of corner points

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7.5.3 Targets of urban congestion toll

The aims of urban congestion toll can be divided into short-term goals and long-term goals. The
short-term goals should be consistent with the long-term targets. The measures of congestion toll
should be reasonable and easy to implement. The final target of congestion toll is to eliminate the
additional cost of traffic congestion. And the problem can be solved from four aspects.
(1) Reduce total transport demand
Controlling transport demand activeness is an important goal of congestion toll. Before each
trip the traveler will calculate the cost and benefit of journey and make a decision. According the
foregoing analysis when some parts of the roads are charged, the cost of taking a trip is increased
and some people will cancel the travel activity.
(2) Change the mode split
There are many different transport modes in city. And they can be divided into public transit
and private traffic. Each mode has its own advantages so it should be utilized efficient.
The proportion of public transit in many Chinese cities are very low and it doesnt match the
fact that the higher population density. As the development of urbanization, the numbers of private
car begin increasing fast. So we must take measures to promote the use of public transit and
congestion toll is a good means.
(3) Change the temporal distribution of transport demand
Urban transport demand cure is like a saddle in every day. There are morning peak hour and
afternoon peak hour. The demands of these time intervals are much larger than normal.
Congestion toll can be charged to reduce the elastic demand at these time intervals and uniform
the temporal distribution of transport demand.
(4) Change the spatial distribution of transport demand
There are many different paths to destination. According to Wardrops first law, everyone will
choose the shortest route and no one could reduce his cost by changing his path solely. When the
roads are charged, the traffic flow can be redistributed in the network and improve the road use.
Congestion toll is a useful TDM strategy. Besides many theoretical discussions there are a lot
of practices, in which the Singapore and London cases are most typical.

7.5.4 Congestion toll in Singapore

Since 1975, the government of Singapore has taken many measures to restrict the private car and
promote the public transit. For example, increase the car purchase tax and adopt the car quota
system. The most striking method is the practice on road congestion toll. Its development included
two stages, named area license scheme and electronic collection system. (Li Bing and Huang
Haijun, 2000)
In June of 1975, area license scheme system was begun to use. The specific provisions
included setting the most congested area covered CBD as the traffic control area. 27 entry-exit
gates were set on the edge. If vehicle with passengers less than 4 enters the control area in the

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morning peak period (7:309:30 from Monday to Saturday, later to 10:15), it must have the area
license. The whole system is performed by the policy at the gates. For vehicles without license, the
policy will record its license plates. And the car owner would be fined 70 Singapore dollar and
receive the summons after two weeks.
From the adoption of ALS (Area License Scheme), control time, toll amount and the restrict
vehicle kinds were changed several times. And from 1989 the ALS was adopted at the afternoon
peak period (16:30 19:30 from Monday to Saturday), and all other vehicles except bus and
ambulance were restricted. From 1994 ALS changed to all day operation (7:30 18:30 in
weekdays, and 7:30 14:00 in weekends), and the license had two kinds, half day license and
whole day license.
Following are the effects of ALS after the operation of 20 years.
(1) Total traffic demand was reduced. From 1975, the number of vehicles entering into
controlled area decreased from 74000 to 41500 per day. And from 1989, the total demand reduced
45%.
(2) Average speed was improved. Before ALS, the speed was about 32 km/h in morning peak
period and 25 km/h in afternoon peak period, and it increased to 33 km/h after ALS.
(3) Converted traveler using public transit more. After ALS, ride rate of public transit in work
travel changed from 33% to 69%, and more used car sharing and ride sharing.
From May 1995, road congestion toll scheme was implemented use at the East Coast Park
Avenue. It is like the toll system used in highway. Everyday from 7:30 to 8:30 AM except
weekends, vehicles enter into the avenue will be charged. After toll, the traffic amounts reduced
from 12400 to 7300 everyday. The speed of bus increased 16%.
Since April 1998, ALS has been replaced by ETC (Electronic Collection System). The pay
card was installed into the windscreen. And car owner can save money to the card. The effects of
ETC was very obvious, the number of vehicles has been reduced from 16000 to 13000 everyday.
The speed has reached 50~60 km/h.

7.5.5 London congestion charge

In 2002 the average speed in London CBD was only 16 km/h. In 2003 London congestion charge
was adopted. This is a fee for some motorists traveling within those parts of London designated as
the Congestion Charge Zone (CCZ). The main objectives of this charge are to reduce congestion,
and to raise funds for investment in London's transport system. The zone came into operation in
parts of Central London on 17 February 2003 and it was extended into parts of West London on 19
February 2007. (Ma Zuqi, 2007)
The original boundary of the toll zone was the London Inner Ring Road. The area is about 22
square kilometers. Any applicable daily charge must be paid for a vehicle that is on a public road
in the Congestion Charge Zone between 7 am and 6:30 pm, Monday to Friday, excluding public
holidays in England and a period over Christmas.
Drivers may pay the charge via a website, by SMS text message, in shops equipped with a
Pay Point, or by phone. The charge may be paid the day after at an increased cost of 10.While

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private drivers are obliged to pay the charge either the day before, on the day or on the following
day, whether they are seen to enter the zone or not, the same rule does not apply to fleets of
business vehicles.
The effects of the congestion charge have been controversial. Studies have been made for its
effects on congestion, traffic levels, road safety, usage of public transport, the environment, and
business activity matters.
Report in June 2007 found that the level of traffic of all vehicle types entering the central
Congestion Charge Zone was now consistently 16% lower in 2006 than the pre-charge levels in
2002. After the scheme was introduced they had measured an improvement in journey times of 0.7
minutes per km, or 30%. This improvement had decreased to 22% in 2006, and during 2006
congestion levels had increased so that the improvement, compared to the year before the scheme,
was just 7%. Usage of the London Underground transportation has increased by 1% above precharge levels, having fallen substantially in 2003/2004, while bus patronage in the Central London
area had stabilized at 116,000 journeys per day after increasing from under 90,000 pre-charge.
In 2007, the Fifth Annual Monitoring Report by TFL(Transport of London) stated that
between 2003 and 2006, NO2 emissions fell by 17%, PM10 by 24% and CO 2 by 3%, with some
being attributed to the effects of reduced levels of traffic flowing better, with the majority being as
a result of improved vehicle technology. In total, the rate of fall in CO2 has been 20%.

7.5.6 Impacts of urban congestion toll

Congestion toll has effects on road infrastructure investment policy and road network structure on
supply side. On demand side congestion toll can influence the route choice, departure time and
mode. Congestion toll can also reduce air pollution and energy consumption. From the long-term
view, congestion toll also have impacts on urban land use form.
(1) Congestion toll can improve the efficiency of transport system
According to traffic flow theory, transport system is un-efficient when the volume beyond the
capacity. Using congestion toll the traffic flow can be reduced and improve the service level of
transport system. The practices of Singapore and London have demonstrated these benefits.
(2) Congestion toll can improve the efficiency of energy utilization
Energy is important to urban sustainable mobility. Fuel consumption of vehicles is related to
vehicle performance, road conditions, congestion level, etc. When traffic is under the condition of
congestion, the energy utilization efficiency is very low. Table 7.4 shows the results of average
fuel consumption under different operation states. (Shi Qing, 2007)
Table 7.7 Fuel consumption of different vehicles
traffic flow state

Free

Normal

Congestion

Jam

Congestion degree

0-0.3

0.3-0.7

0.7-0.9

0.9-1

Average speed/km/h

>60

30-60

10-30

<10

Average fuel consumption

Car

<0.09

0.09-0.106

0.106-0.225

>0.225

L/km

Car per person

<0.0562

0.0562-0.066

0.066-0.140

>0.140

151

Bus

<0.27

0.27-0.324

0.324-0.85

>0.85

Bus per person

<0.009

0.009-0.011

0.011-0.028

>0.028

The data in table 7.4 indicates that fuel consumption under congested condition is about 2~3
times of normal condition. And the fuel consumption of bus is less than car.
(3) Congestion toll can reduce vehicle emissions
Vehicle emission is the primary pollution of urban air. In Beijing air pollution, 73% of CH,
84% of CO and 42% of NOX come from vehicle emissions.
Vehicle emission is related to the vehicle performance. When the speed is below 88km/h, the
emission factors of CH and CO is inverse to speed. The factors are linear when speed between 88
to 105 km/h. The emission change a little when the speed in the interval of 40~80km/h. But when
the speed changes from 8 to 32 km/h. the emission increases a lot. Table 7.5 is the emission under
different congestion conditions. (Shi Qing, 2007) Congestion toll can improve the traffic
performance and reduce the emissions.

Table 7.8 Vehicle emission under different congestion situations

Traffic flow state

Free

Normal

Congestio
n

Jam

Congestion degree

0-0.3

0.3-0.7

0.7-0.9

0.9-1

Average sped/km/h

>60

30-60

10-30

<10

CO

<22.6

22.6-59.8

59.8-120

>120

CH

<0.562

50.01-52.78

52.78-57.4

>57.4

NO X

<1.43

1.43-1.68

1.68-1.89

>1.89

CO

<20.2

20.2-21.6

21.6-44.6

>44.6

CH

<4.37

4.37-6.95

6.95-11.6

>11.6

NO X

>37.4

37.4-43.7

43.7-62.78

>62.78

Emission factor of car

Emission factor of diesel vehicles

(4) Congestion toll can advance the public transport priority

Public transit is more efficient than private car. Its a long term fundamental strategy to
develop public transit first. The use of public transit is related to the car use policy and the bus
service level. Congestion toll can promote the public transport priority from many aspects. First,
public transit has th priority when entering into toll area. Second, the toll amounts can be used to
improve the transit system. And congestion toll can indicate social equity by assign road priority

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to transit.

7.6 Information technology and TDM

7.6.1 Impacts of information technology on transport demand
As the development of modern information technology, communication technology, electronic
control technology and system integration technology, the communion of information becomes
more and more important.
Travel behavior has been changed from many aspects as the coming of information society.
On one hand, there are similar characters between communication and transportation. Part
transportation can be replaced by communication. The development of information technology
reduces the cost and makes more people choose communication. Now telecommuting, ecommerce and internet education are very popular. These have been the alternatives of traditional
transportation. On the other hand, enhanced information communication makes economic activity
strength stronger. More transportation demand will be produced as the increased economic
activity. So we should analyze the information impacts from various sides.
Development of information technology also promotes the reform of transport system. What
is the most successful is the applications of Intelligent Transportation Tystem (ITS). ITS can
provide many management means for TDM and improve the efficiency of transport system. It lays
the foundation of urban sustainable mobility in information society.

7.6.2 Telecommuting and TDM

Telecommuting is the practice of working for a government, corporation or business from home
using communications devices such as computers, fax machines, networks and modems.
Telecommuting programs allow employees to work at home (or at a neighborhood telework
office) rather than commuting daily to a more distant work site. These programs can result in
significant reductions in rush-hour traffic congestion, vehicle emissions and fuel consumption.
Telecommuting is an important part of enterprise management. Besides reducing travel
demand, this is consistent with the develop targets such as improve productivity. For example,
experimental results of the AT&T and government departments in Phoenix city of Arizona reveal
that 80% of the managers consider telecommuting improve the working efficiency, 76% of the
managers think that telecommuting reform the working style, and about 90% of the investigators
consider that telecommuting should be extended(Wang Gang, 2000).
Telecommuting is a new TDM measure, so now it is hard to confirm the value. It depends on
the development in future. Travelers maybe adjust their travel mode on the influence of
telecommuting. Next we analyze the different impact of telecommuting to transport demand based
on commuting and non-commuting.
Telecommuting is the practice of working from home, so there is a reduction on transport
demand and vehicle travel kilometers. Some commuters will change their travel mode under the
influence of telecommuting, but now we cant make sure that telecommuting reduce the car use.

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Telecommuting also has impacts on non-commuting. For example, people have more time to
control by themselves, and may spend more time to their personal activities.
The influence of telecommuting is comprehensive. The effects are related to the application
environments. Accounting, data processing, programming and design sometimes are more suitable
for the use of telecommuting than construction or retail industry.
Telecommuting has broad application tomorrow. About 16% of the vehicle distances are
suitable for telecommuting, and about 40% of the work can be replaced by it. The policy of firms
is an important factor to promote the telecommuting use. Telecommuting is not restricted by the
service level, so it can be used in the place without bus or car sharing.

7.6.3 Applications of ITS

Interest in ITS comes from the problems caused by traffic congestion worldwide and a synergy of
new information technology for simulation, real-time control and communications networks. The
term intelligent transportation system refers to efforts to add information and communications
technology to transport infrastructure and vehicles in an effort to manage factors that typically are
at odds with each other, such as vehicles, loads, and routes to improve safety and reduce vehicle
wear, travel times and fuel consumption.
Intelligent transportation systems vary in technologies applied, from basic management
systems such as car navigation, traffic signal control systems, container management systems,
variable message signs, automatic plate recognition or speed cameras to monitoring applications
such as security CCTV systems, and then to more advanced applications which integrate live data
and feedback from a number of other sources, such as parking guidance and information systems,
weather information, bridge deicing systems, and the like. Additionally, predictive techniques are
being developed, to allow advanced modeling and comparison with historical baseline data. Some
of the constituent technologies typically implemented in ITS are described in the following
sections.
In ITS technology Advanced Traveler Information System ( ATIS) is most related with TDM.
ATIS is a sub-group of ITS offering user services that provide real time information to travelers
about traffic conditions, accident delays, transit schedules, parking availability, road works and
route guidance. Such information can be accessed by the user pre-trip or en-route, and can include
both driving information (e.g., traffic conditions, alternative routes, route guidance, etc.) and
transit information (e.g., transit schedules, personalized transit, suggested modes and transfer
points, etc.). By using ATIS information, travelers are expected to optimize their trips by making
more efficient choices relating to mode, departure time, and parking.
The effects of ATIS in USA are reported in table 7.6. The index include travel time, user
satisfactory, network capacity and collision risk (Yang Zhao Sheng, 2003).
Table 7.9 Actual Effects of ATIS
Index

Effects

Collision risk

Reduce the pressure of drivers 4%~10%

154

Casualty
degree

Combined with GPS guidance system, it can reduce casualty

Travel time

Reduce the travel time 420

Capacity

Simulation indicates that when 30% of the vehicles are equipped with ATIS, 10%
capacity will be expanded

Delay

Save 1900 car hours in peak period, and total amounts are 300000 per year

Emissions

Reduce the emission of HC 16%-25% and CO 7%-35%

Satisfaction

Lighten the pressure and improve safety 70~95% when communicated with center

As the development of information society, it has broad impacts on travel behavior and
transport system design. Information technology must be taken as a measure of TDM in order to
build urban sustainable mobility.

7.7 TDM practice in China

Many TDM measures have been taken in China, but there is not a comprehensive system. Here we
discuss some typical TDM strategies in Chinese cities.

7.7.1 Licenses plate ending with odd or even number in Beijing

Prepared for the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing, in the time of Good luck Beijing test games
held from 17th to 20th August 2007, Beijing Government proposed the regulation of Single and
Double motor vehicles. Following is the detail of the regulation. (shouduzhichuang.com, 2007)
(1) Regulations of vehicles with Beijing license
Vehicles with Beijing license observe the Single and Double regulation. But following
vehicles are not included.
1) Special vehicles (police cars, fire trucks, ambulance, recovery trucks);
2), Bus and large passenger cars;
3) Taxi and small bus (exclude rental cars);
4) Post vehicles;
5) Vehicles of embassies in China;
6) Vehicles with the license of 2007 good luck Beijing;
7) Vehicles with license from traffic management sector;
Besides the Single and Double regulation, cargo vehicles, motorcycles, tractors should also
observe the original traffic limitation.
(2) Regulation of vehicles without Beijing License
Vehicles of other provinces entry into Beijing should observe the same regulation of Single
and Double. But following vehicles are not included:
1) Police car and ambulance;
2) Post trucks;

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3) Trucks carrying fresh farm production;

4) Inter-provincial long-distance passenger bus and tour bus;
The regulations from 17th to 20th August have a good effect on the air quality in Beijing.
Compared to 16th, the main pollution related with emission such as NO2, CO, SO2, PM, all
decreased. The decreasing degree was about 15% to 20%. The average speed increased 53.6%.
The number of passengers using public transit is about 73.86 million, increasing about 15%.
The passenger flow adds about 2.48 million. 800 additional buses were operated. There was also
an increase in subway and taxi users. The average speed of bus reached about 20 km/h from
14km/h and it was more reliable. (xinhuanet, 2007)
1048 persons all over the Beijing Metropolitan were selected to a inquiry survey after the
regulation. About 90% of the residents supported the Single and Double motor vehicles regulation.
89.4% of the responders considered regulation could release congestion. 89.1% of the responders
thought that Single and Double motor vehicles regulation should be executed before the opening
of Beijing Olympic Games to ensure the good air quality. 65.7% of the responders admitted to
support the regulation highly, and 23.2% support relatively.
Regulation of single and double motor vehicles in Beijing acquired good effects in a short
term, improved the air quality and reduced congestion remarkably. And most people expressed to
support the system. But the regulation is hidebound, so maybe it is hard to use it everyday.

7.7.2 Vehicle licenses plate auction policy in Shanghai

The most controversy and special TDM measure in Shanghai is the Vehicle licenses auction
policy. License auction began from 1986. Then it applied to private car license only. The auction
price was about 100 thousand Yuan. In the beginning of 1998, in order to stimulate the sell of cars
made in Shanghai, the auction price was set to 20 thousand Yuan for Cars made in Shanghai, and
100 thousand Yuan for cars not made in Shanghai. From 2000, the policy have became that all the
car license are auction open and the auction activity was held once every month. Since 2004 the
government vehicle license has attended the auction.(Liu Deji, 2008; Ye Ye, 2006)
The opposite opinions to the vehicle license auction are listed in the follwoing. First there are
some shortcomings from the view of law. Somebody oppugn the effects on solving congestion
problem. And many others think license auction is opposed to Automobile Industry Development
Policy of China. People who support this regulation list two main reasons. One is that vehicle
license auction is the most efficient methods to release traffic congestion and similar policies have
been used in Singapore, Denmark, Norway and Hong Kong. The other reason is the money selling
the vehicle license can be used into transport infrastructure construction.
Table 7.7 shows the number of vehicle licenses put into market and the sale price from 2000
to 2007. (Shanghai Hotline net, 2008)We can see that in 2004 the number of license increased a
lot and kept stability since then. But the sale price increase every year and reached 47815 Yuan per
license in 2007.
Table 7.10 Number of vehicle license and price form 2000 to 2007

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2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Number of vehicle license

(million)

1.4

1.59

3.185

5.3068

7.18

7.8

6.5

7.75

Price (Yuan)

14416

14444

27848

34349

30640

33897

38347

47815

Table 7.8 is the situation of Per Capita Disposable Income and Vehicle Population per 100
people of Beijing and Shanghai, and we can see that the license auction policy has distinct impact
on car ownership.

Table 7.11 Per Capita Disposable Income and Vehicle Population per 100 people in Beijing
and Shanghai
Beijing

Year

Shanghai

Per Capita Disposable

Income (Yuan)

Vehicle Population

Per Capita Disposable

Income (Yuan)

Vehicle Population

2001

11757.8

4.5

12883

0.5

2002

12463.9

5.7

13250

0.9

2003

13882.6

7.4

14867

1.3

2004

15673.8

8.4

16683

1.8

2005

17653.0

9.7

18645

2.3

per 100 people

per 100 people

Transport demand doesnt relates to the number of vehicle only but also have close
relationship with the car use. Though strict policy on car ownership has been adopted, the total
number is still big and because of lacking of efficient measures, the traffic congestion is still
severe. Survey indicated that the average speed in Shanghai is about 26.9 km/h while 26.6km/h in
Beijing. There are not obvious effects coming from license quota. (Liu Deji, 2008)
The use of substantive income is also discussed. Whether it has been used to build roads or
improve transit system is controversy.

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7.7.3 System of flexible working hours in Wenzhou

From March of 2002, system of flexible working hours was first adopted in Wenzhou among
China. The work time in some parts was changed to 8:30 am from 8:00. School time was moved
before 8:00, and the opening time of markets was put off to 9:00. Table 7-19 listed the effects.
(Wang Zhenbao, 2006)
Table 7.12 Effects of system flexible working hours in Wenzhou
Items

Flow
distribution

Effects

Flow

Peak hour flow reduce 8% compared with last year

Speed

The average speed changed from 23km/h to 25km/h.

Delay

Delay in the journey time have been reduced from 29% to 17%

morning peak hour

afternoon peak
hour
Benefits

The motor vehicle flow from 7:30~8:00 reduced about 10%, increased a
little from 8:00~8:40. Non motor vehicle flow increased about 10% from
7:30~8:00 and reduced a little from 8:00~9:00.
There was no obvious impact on afternoon peak hour flow.

Fuel saving

The total fuel savings is about 13 million Yuan per year.

Time saving

The total value of time savings is about 28.5 million Yuan.

Stated analysis

82% of the responds supported the measures

7.8 Conclusions and suggestions

TDM has been employed to solve the transportation congestion problem abroad for a long time.
There are many successful cases and a lot of experiences have been accumulated. In order to build
urban sustainable mobility, it is necessary to take account TDM into the whole urban system
policies. Traffic problems cant be solved using some measure solely.
Validity of TDM depends on travel patterns, land use policy, law and institution, public
participation, operational methods, etc. Practical TDM measures should be taken based on the
particular problems of Chinese transportation. Benefit from the fact that Chinese government has
better control ability than west countries, strong management measures can be used at the
beginning stage of TDM to lead people choose more reasonable transportation development
patterns. And TDM related ideas should be advocated to improve peoples consciousness about
transport and attract more people participate.
Here one key point must be mentioned. TDM is only a method to change transport demand so
it must be based on a certain amount of transport supply. Transport supply is still lack currently
especially the public transit is short. Neglecting management is unreasonable because it will
reduce the efficiency of resource. On the other hand, only depending on TDM is also unrealistic, it
will enlarge the contradiction between transport supply and demand. At current stage both
transport construction and management should be emphasized. Comprehensive TDM measures
and substantive supply will make transport system more sustainable.

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References
[1] Else, P.K. 1982, A reformulation of the theory of optimal congestion taxes, A rejoinder.
Journal of Transport Economics and Policy. 17, 299-304.
[2] Hai Yang, Hai-jun Huang. 1998, Principle of Marginal-cost Pricing: How Does It Work In A
General Road Network? Transportation Research Part A, Vol. 32, No.1, 45-54
[3] Li Bin, Huang Haijun, 2000, The practice of Singapore Road Pricing system, Journal of
Highway and transport research and development, 17(3), 59-62
[4] Liu Deji, 2008, Analysis of Shanghai vehicle license auction Policy, industrial & science
tribune, 7(1), 130-133
[5] Ma Zuqi, 2007, Congestion charging in central London: its effect, progress and application,
Foreign urban planning, 22(3), 85-90
[6] Qiu Meichun, 2007, Apllication and study of revenue allocation
charging, Master thesis of Tsinghua University, Beijing

of

road

congestion

[7] Shi Qing, 2007, Study on the urban transportation congestion pricing, Master thesisi of Xian
university of architecture and technology, Xian
[8] Tomson J.M. 1982, Urban Forms and transport planning (translated by Li Wen Yan and Tao
Wuxin ) , Beijing, China Building industry press
[9] Wang Gang, 2004, Implementing effective transporta demand managementTDM in
America, Beijing, Chinese People's Public Security University Publishing Press
[10]Wang Jianwei, 2003, Theory of Transportation planning based on transport efficiency, Dotocal
dissertation of Tsinghua University, Beijing
[11]Wang Wei, Guo Xiucheng, 2000, Traffic Engineering, Nanjing, Southeast University Press
[12]Wang Zhengbao, 2006, Study on transportation demand management policy in Beijing,
Master thesis of Beijing University Of Technology, Beijing
[13]Ye Ye, 2006, The reasonableness and legitimacy of Shanghai Vehicle quota system, Master
Thesis of Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai
[14]Yang Zhaoshen, 2003, Introduction to ITS, Beijing, China Communications Press
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demand managementthe case of Sanya, Master Thesis of Tsinghua University, Beijing
[16]http://auto.online.sh.cn/content/2008-03/17/content_2255183.htm
[17]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_congestion_charge
[18] http://news.xinhuanet.com/olympics/2007-08/13/content_6517186.htm
[19]http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2007-08/24/content_6594201.htm
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159

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160

Chapter 8 Theory and Methodology in Sustainable Urban

Mobility Planning
8.1 Theoretical Framework for Sustainable Urban Mobility
Planning
8.1.1 Objectives of Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning
As mentioned in section 5.2, the traditional transportation planning cannot meet with the
requirements of sustainable urban mobility planning in terms of objectives, principles, methods
and plans. The disadvantages are as follows:
(1) One fold objective
The traditional transportation planning is driven by ever increasing travel demand and tries to
satisfy the demand to the utmost extent. Road network design is treated as the main focus. with no
consideration about interaction between transportation and land use. The relationship between
resources environment travel behavior travel demand is neglected.
(2) The drawbacks of four-step model
The classic four-step model was invented in 1960s when transportation planning was first
separated from the urban planning. This model system commonly used has some limitations at
present, such as inconsistency and lack of connection between each step.
(3) Limited impact analysis on energy and environment
In traditional transportation planning, the impact analysis on energy and environment is often
neglected. Such as current situation and future tendency of transportation energy consumption, the
amount of vehicle emissions, and the impact analysis of environmental pollution etc.
(4) Limitations of indicators for transportation plans
Level of service and economic feasibility are the two types of commonly used indicators in
traditional transportation planning. The former refers to the question whether the planned system
can meet with the demand and the latter means whether it is worth investment. The factors for
society, energy, and environment are neglected in such indicators.
(5) Not people oriented
The traffic flows originate from the spatial movement of people and goods. In traditional
transportation planning, vehicles are emphasized rather than people who make trips.
Compared with the objectives and requirements of sustainable urban mobility planning, the
traditional approach should incorporate these ideas: optimized utilization of resource,
environmental protection and people oriented. The control variables of sustainable urban mobility

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system should include traffic intensity, environmental capacity, energy consumption, and
transportation accessibility. Consequently, the objectives of sustainable urban mobility planning
are illustrated in Figure 8.1.

Figure 8.51 The objectives of sustainable urban mobility planning

8.1.2 Theoretical Framework for Sustainable Urban Mobility

Planning
Under the guidance of the above objectives, listed below are some principles to follow for
planning a sustainable urban mobility system.

Put people first, and consider the safety and mobility of pedestrians and bicyclers.

Emphasize on strategic policy of urban mobility development.

Integrate transportation with land use and achieve coordinated development between
transportation and land use with high accessibility and reasonable travel demand.

Put the efforts on the research of the reasonable transportation structure and network
capacity.

Carry out environment impact assessment to reduce environmental cost and external
effect, while satisfying the basic requirements of social and economic development.

Improve the connection and cooperation between different transportation modes.

Make modern traffic management into full functioning.

Enhance the guarantee system for implementation of transportation planning.

To ensure the sustainable urban mobility, theoretical framework of sustainable urban mobility
planning should be developed, under the condition of situation in China.

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Figure 8.52 Theoretical framework of sustainable urban mobility planning

Figure 8.2 shows the theoretical framework of sustainable urban mobility planning, including
the whole procedures, such as strategy making, demand forecasting, planning method, evaluation
and guarantee system. The intention and contents of each part of this framework are explained as
follows:
(1) Sustainable development strategy of urban mobility seeks to determine the development
goal and direction of urban mobility system, in order to meet requirements for increasing
demand, environment capacity and non-renewable resources limitations.
(2) Survey contents and methods for sustainable urban mobility is to study how to collect
the data including social and economic statistics, transportation operation, traffic flow, and
personal trips, using advanced information techniques and following standard procedure.
(3) Urban travel demand forecasting model is to predict the urban trip generation,
distribution, mode split and link flows in future, by means of quantitative approach and
personal travel behavior analysis.
(4) Integrated planning of transportation and land use seeks to balance development of
urban transportation and land use, with considering the interaction between them.
(5) Energy and environment impact assessment of sustainable urban mobility evaluates the
potential effect of energy consumption and environmental pollution, and studies the
relationships between traffic operation, transportation, vehicle emissions and oil
consumption.
(6) Accessibility-oriented transportation planning method changes the traditional, mobilityoriented planning thought, and tackles the connection between transportation and land use by
introducing the concept of accessibility. The utmost goal of this method is to improve the

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access for activities and services.

(7) Transportation network design for sustainable urban mobility incorporates multiobjective decision process to take transportation function, energy, environment and social
development into consideration.
(8) The indicators for sustainable urban mobility planning set a new benchmark to evaluate
the performance of alternative plans.
(9) The guarantee system for implementation of sustainable urban mobility planning is
intended to make policies and regulations in order to support the implement of sustainable
urban mobility.

8.1.3 Key techniques in sustainable urban mobility planning

The key techniques involved in sustainable urban mobility planning are as follows:

8.1.3.1 Urban travel demand forecasting model

To avoid the drawbacks of traditional four-step travel demand forecasting model, directions to
improve should be laid on the following aspects:
(1) Interaction between travel demand and urban land use.
Travel demand and urban land use interact mutually. On one side, different land use patterns
determine the total amount of travel demand and the spatial distribution, as well as the
transportation modes to some extent. On the other side, the changes in transportation system will
redistribute travel demand, and change the level of accessibility which is a key factor for location
selection. Consequently, urban spatial structure will be changed as relocation happens.
(2) Connections between traveler behavior and travel activities.
Transportation demand is derived from personal activities. It is necessary to incorporate
behavior and activity-based theory into travel demand forecasting model system, in order to
improve the accuracy of quantitative, analytical results.
(3) Dynamic model for urban mobility system.
Increasing needs have arisen from theoretical and practical experiences, since the dynamic
model of urban mobility system is more appropriate to describe the characteristics of
transportation system than static models.

8.1.3.2 Accessibility-oriented transportation planning method

The concept of accessibility is widely used in planning and policy making. Transportation
accessibility is a key factor in handling the relationship between transportation system, urban land
use and travelers. It refers to the ease of reaching opportunities from origins to destinations in a
given transportation system. Generally, accessibility represents the public interest and social
equity, which would be the main concern in urban transportation planning.

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8.1.3.3 Integrated planning of transportation and land use

Integrated planning between land-use and transportation system is the key in achieving sustainable
urban mobility of urban transportation system and solving traffic problems (Lu Huapu, 2006). In a
view of urban planning, it is very important to achieve reasonable city structure, high-density
land-use and balanced development between employment and residence, retaining suitable
greenbelt, public space and those spaces for living of urban organism; and in a view of
transportation system, providing integrated transportation system in accord with traffic demand
characteristics, with feedback and lead to urban form and land-use patterns, would guarantee well
development of the city.
Stratification and coordination are two significant concepts for integrated planning.
Coordination is the requirement and objective while the stratification is the key point and
approach. Stratification of planning is helpful to meet traffic demand and then realize the highefficiency and multi-choice, while coordination can help the transportation system achieve the
seamless joint and zero-distance transfer based on a people-oriented system.

8.1.3.4 The indicators for sustainable urban mobility planning

The indicators for sustainable urban mobility planning can guide the development of urban
mobility system. Therefore, efforts should be directed to select the proper indicators and determine
the reasonable development standards for urban transportation.

8.2 Theory and planning methods based on transportation

accessibility
8.2.1 Transportation accessibility
Generally, transportation accessibility reflects the ease of people reaching for activities. However
in fact, it expresses the opportunities of people making use of transportation system and
interacting with each other. The key factors of accessibility include (Geurs et. al., 2004): land
use, e.g. spatial distribution of employment and resident; transportation system, e.g. road
network and transit; time space characteristics, e.g. commuting time and locations;
individual properties, e.g. income and car ownership. Typically, these factors are involved in the
following five types of accessibility models.
(1) Spatial Separation Measure (Ingram, 1971)
This model is the simplest measure of accessibility. The only dimension used is distance or
travel time. The most general measure computes the weighted average of distances or travel times.
This model mainly reflects the travel mobility; however, it cannot take into consideration of the
attractiveness and land use.
(2) Cumulative Opportunities (Wachs et.al., 1973)
This measure defines a travel time or distance threshold and uses the number of potential
activities within that threshold as the accessibility. But the value of threshold is difficult to
165

determine.
(3) Spatial Interaction Measure
This model defines accessibility as the possibility of interaction between two locations
(Hansen, 1959). It originates from the double-constrained gravity model derived by Wilson. The
influencing factors can be divided into two parts, one is the attractive force and the other is the
friction of interaction. The general form of this measure has an attraction factor weighted by the
travel or distance raised to some exponent known as distance decay function.
(4) Utility Measure (Ben-Akiva & Lerman, 1979)
This measure is based on an individuals perceived utility for different travel choice (BenAkiva & Lerman, 1979). For individual n, accessibility is defined as the expected value of the
maximum of the utilities over alternative spatial destination i in choice set C. It is also formulated
by the logsum of the discrete choice model.
(5) Time-Space Measure (Hgerstrand, 1970)
The motivation behind this model is that individuals have only limited time periods during
which to take activities. This model is measured by the scope of activities under the constraint of
time and space, usually defined as a time-space prism. Kwan (1998) proposed a measure called
feasible opportunity set (FOS), which was widely used.
To compare with the above models, Table 8.1 summarizes the advantages and limitations of
each model.
Table 8.13Comparison of accessibility models

Models
1

Formulation
Ai

1
J

jJ i

ij

Parameters

Advantages

Limitations

dij: spatial separation from

i to j;

simple
direct

cannot
involve land
use
and
activities.

and

J: destination set.
2

Ai O jt
j

t:

predefined
threshold;

time

direct

difficult
to
determine
threshold t

theoretical and
representative

physical

travel
behavior
based

complex

Ojt: opportunities of zone j

within threshold t.
3

Ai
j

Dj
d ij

dij: distance from i to j;

: parameter in distance
decay function;
Dj: opportunities of zone j.

An ln exp(Vin )
iC

Vin: utility of individual n

choosing i;
C: choice set.

166

A Wi I i
i

1 if i FOS
0 otherwise

I i

Wi: opportunities of zone

i;

bi-dimensional

data acquire

FOS: feasible opportunity

set

To synthesize the advantages of the above models and avoid their drawbacks, this study
defines accessibility as the utility of individual reaching desired activities from origin to
destination at desired time by desired transportation mode(s). The influencing factors include: (1)
travelers, which belong to a group of people with similarities; (2) travel choice behavior, e.g.
departure time, mode and purposes; (3) spatial location, e.g. spatial distribution of origins and
destinations; (4) activities and land use.
According to that definition, the model of accessibility can be formulated as follows:
D j

Ai ln
j

ij

Where, Ai is the accessibility of zone i; Dj is the attractiveness of zone j; Cij is the generalized
cost from zone i to zone j; and are parameters.

8.2.2 Transportation accessibility and mobility

The transportation mobility has greatly improved due to the use of motorized vehicles and
sufficient supply of infrastructures. People are getting closer to desired activities and interact with
each other more easily than before, by means of cars and expressways. However, negative external
effects such as congestion, pollution and energy shortage arise from the excessive use of private
cars. It is doubtful whether mobility is good or not. It must be answered how to achieve
sustainable mobility and how it relates to accessibility.
Early in 1920s, sociologists in U.S. put forward the concept of mobility and regarded it as a
social equity index of individual rights to move freely. During 1940s and 1950s, planners in
Europe incorporated mobility into urban planning, and studied the impacts of mobility on urban
form and city life (Zhuo Jian, 2004). Generally, transportation mobility reflects the ability of
moving freely from one place to another, via a given transportation system.
From a social view, transportation mobility provides people the freedom of traveling, and
meets the needs of individual rights. Unfortunately, people usually mistake car use for
transportation mobility, leading to excessive and irrational use of cars. It results in even more
congestions and pollutions.
Mobility, comparing with accessibility, has the following limitations:
(1) Accessibility is more meaningful than mobility because of integration with individual
properties, transportation, activities and travel behaviors.
(2) Since the goal of a trip is to reach the desired activities, accessibility reflects the ease of
getting close to these activities; therefore, accessibility is the ultimate aim of mobility. However,
mobility gives travelers the freedom of traveling from one place to another. Obviously, good
mobility contributes to accessibility but not always does.

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(3) Mobility is the traditional focus of transportation planners but has become in question due
to the growing social, environmental and sustainable concerns. In the absence of congestion,
mobility is most effectively provided by the private motor vehicle. Mobility, especially when
excessive, can have a negative connotation, whereas accessibility is always seen as making a
positive contribution to a community.
(4) Mobility is a symbol of personal freedom, while accessibility represents public interests.
The empirical study on the relationship between accessibility and mobility in Asia, Europe,
America and Australia countries was conducted by Ross William (2000). In his study, the
accessibility and mobility values were analyzed statistically and drawn in system of coordinates,
as shown in Figure 8.3. In this figure, VKT (Vehicle Kilometers Traveled) is chosen as the
2
2
indicator of mobility and a Gaussian-type function A 100 exp( M / K ) is used for accessibility

measure, where K is the average trip distance in each city. From this result, the cities can be
divided into four categories according to the relative values of accessibility and mobility. Asian
cities have high accessibility and low mobility, and American cities are completely different.

Source: Ross William, 2000.

Figure 8.53 The relationship between accessibility and mobility

Few literatures mentioned the relationship between accessibility and mobility in China cities,
so we select several big cities to examine the development of accessibility and mobility in China.
VKT per capita is chosen as the indicator of mobility and Hansen-type potential model is
employed as the measure of accessibility. As shown in the coordinate system in Figure 8.4, the
accessibility and mobility turn to be inverse ratio, that is, the higher mobility is, the lower
accessibility is, apart from Shenyang. Dalian and Changchun, above the curve, have better
accessibility but lower mobility than Sanya and Linyi, below the curve. To find out the reason,
comparative studies are made on the population density, number of vehicles and buses per capita
respectively. The data is mainly from the urban statistics yearbook and relevant reports.

168

600
1. 6

Sanya
2003

550

1. 4

450
400

Langfang
2005

Changchun
1997

1. 2

Shenyang
2004

Linyi
2004

Pop density

Mobility

500

Changchun
2003
Dalian
2004

350

0. 6
0. 4

Jining
2003

300

1
0. 8

0. 2

250
35000

45000

55000

65000

75000

85000

Dalian

Shenyang

Changchun

Langfang

Jining

Linyi

Sanya

Accessibility

Figure 8.55 Population density

Figure 8.54 Empirical results

As shown in Figure 8.5, there remains high population density in the cities with high
accessibility, where people can interact with each other easily. On the opposite side, the cities with
high mobility always have low population density. It is proved that the improvement of mobility
might decrease the urban population density, and reduce the ease of people interacting with each
other and acquiring opportunities.
As shown in Figure 8.6 and Figure 8.7, the cities with high mobility have more vehicles than
those with low mobility. Similarly, the cities with high accessibility have more buses than those
with low accessibility. This reflects that the maintenance of good accessibility in urban area relies
on public transit rather than passenger cars.
0.09
0.08

Vehicle per capita

0.07
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
Dalian

S henyang

Changchun

Langfang

Jining

Linyi

Sanya

Figure 8.56 Number of vehicles per capita

Figure 8.57 Number of buses per capita

The results for Shenyang and Changchun should be paid more attention to, as shown in figure
8.4. Shenyang has a high density of population, as well as a large number of vehicles, which
makes Shenyang much accessible and moveable. This result contributes to the balanced
development of urban density and vehicle ownership. The accessibility of Changchun had
progressively improved while mobility gradually reduced from year 1997 to 2003. It is concluded
that the development of public transit and maintenance of public transit can reduce the VKT per
capita, even can remove the peoples dependence of car use.
Come conclusions can be drawn from the empirical study:
(1) Accessibility and mobility are negatively related. Therefore, the excessive use of car will
lead to the decrease in accessibility.

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(2) Mobility, especially private car use, will lead to urban sprawl and low density
development, and reduce ease of reaching opportunities, then result in a low accessibility.
However, the use of public transit will maintain a high density development and help to improve
accessibility.

8.2.3 The role of accessibility in transportation and land use system

Accessibility plays an important role in coordinating transportation system and land use. Figure
8.8 shows the feedback loop of this process. The transportation cost, depending on the
transportation system and traffic conditions, has an effect on accessibility; the changes of
accessibility work on peoples residential or employment location choice; the spatial distribution
of houses and jobs will change the urban form which determines the trip generation, distribution
and traffic conditions. There are four key factors in this feedback loop: (1) land use patterns, e.g.
spatial location of residence and employment; (2) personal activities, producing the demand of
traveling; (3) transportation system, providing the means of reaching activities; and (4)
accessibility, affecting peoples location choice.

Figure 8.58 The feedback loop of transportation and land use

Southworth (1995) reviewed the integrated models of transportation and land use, and
proposed the framework of interaction between transportation and land use. As shown in Figure
8.9, accessibility is treated as the linkage between transportation and land use. The role of
accessibility is realized by maximizing the difference between location attractiveness and travel
cost. Therefore, the accessibility measure can be divided into two parts. The first part is location
attractiveness, and the other is travel cost.

170

Figure 8.59 Framework of interaction between transportation and land use

(Southworth, 1995)
Figure 8.10 illustrates the quantitative connections between transportation and land use. In
this figure, traveling and activities are linked by accessibility. On the transportation side, the
characteristics of travel behavior, such as trip decision, destination choice, mode choice and route
choice, are partially affected by accessibility. On the land use side, the location decision is the
result from the interaction between land value and accessibility.

Figure 8.60 Analytical connections between transportation and land use (modified from
Halden, 2005)

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In conclusion, the function of accessibility in connecting transportation and land use is by

maximizing the difference between location attractiveness and travel cost, which can be
formulated by quantitative approaches.

8.2.4 Job-housing balance

Note that accessibility is so important in transportation and land use issues, we incorporate the
concept of job-housing balance into urban and transportation planning, in terms of accessibility.
The concept of job-housing balance is derived from new town planning, which is referred to
the balanced development of jobs and housing units within a specific community. The traffic
pattern of job-housing balance can be illustrated using the figure 8.11, modified from the works of
Iidas Urban Transport in Tokyo. The left figure show the traffic pattern under the single-center
city, where people reside in suburban area and work in the center and commute inbound and
outbound of the whole city everyday. While in the right figure, the city composes of several subcenters with balance development of jobs and housing units, and people do not need to travel long
distance to work, as a result, the traffic volume is reduced. In the meantime, the communities
become accessible.

Figure 8.61 Single-centered development and balanced development

Actually, job-housing balance is a rather complex issue with lots of difficulties to be tackled
the scope, the indicator to name a few.
(1) The scope of job-housing balance
It is hard to determine in what scope the number of jobs and housing units can match. If
considering a large area such as a county, a city or a province, the balance of jobs and housing
units is self-evident. In a community with small area, the balance of jobs and housing units
becomes useless and unnecessary. Therefore, the scope of balance analysis should be properly
defined. On this purpose, a dynamic buffering area is used to determine the scope, as shown in
Figure 8.12.

172

Figure 8.62 A dynamic buffering area

The dynamic buffering area is the circle with centroid of zone i as the center and d0 as the
radius. All the centroids within the buffering area are collected and noted by Fi = {j | dij <= d0},
where d0 is a variable parameter. The value of d0 is initialized as the average trip distance, and then
changed for different values, in order to determine the proper value of d0.
(2) The indicator for job-housing balance
The indicators for job-housing balance mainly conclude job housing unit ratio (Peng, 1997),
land use mixed entropy (Peng Hu, 2007), land use coordination degree (Cheng Feng, 2007).
Job housing unit ratio: referred to the ratio of the number of jobs to housing units. Usually, it
is regarded to be reasonable that the ratio is between 0.8 1.2.
Land use mixed entropy: reflecting the mixed use of various types of land use. Denote Pi as
the proportion of the land use type i, and then the indicator will be:

E Pi ln Pi
i

Land use coordination degree: reflecting the balance between various types of land use.
Define the coordination coefficient hij as the linkage between land use type i and type j, xi, xj as the
area of type i and type j, and then the indicator will be:

Rij xi hij x j
Comprehensive evaluation process should be taken to analyze job-housing balance in
practical issues.

8.2.5 The process of accessibility-oriented transportation planning

It is necessary to implement accessibility-oriented transportation in China, duo to the following
reasons:
(1) Challenges and strategy choice of urban transportation development in China
China has been seeing great changes in economics and urban development. In 2006, the GDP

173

per capita reached 1700 dollars and urbanization rate went up to 43.9%. According the
experiences from developed countries, it is crucial for China to choose a correct strategy in such a
rapid developing stage. Obviously, it is not appropriate for China to follow the way as in U.S.
because of large population and insufficient land and infrastructures. As a result, China has to
choose a way to realize sustainable development for the people and for the cities. Under the
circumstances, public transit priority, transportation accessibility should be emphasized so as to
reduce the use of cars and promote urban healthy development.
(2) The limitations of traditional transportation planning theory and methods
The traditional transportation planning is driven by ever increasing travel demand and
satisfies the demand to the utmost extent. Motorized vehicles especially cars are emphasized
rather than people who make trips. More details see section 8.2.1.
(3) The inverse ratio between accessibility and mobility
Given that accessibility is associated with mobility in an inverse ratio, and overdevelopment
of mobility and cars is not consistent with the actual situation in China, so the goal of
transportation should shift from mobility-oriented to accessibility-oriented. This idea traces to
Cervero (1997) where he suggested lying emphasis on transportation accessibility in urban
planning and design.
The process of accessibility-oriented planning can be illustrated as Figure 8.13.

Figure 8.63 The process of accessibility-oriented planning

Based on social economy and industry localization, analyze the transport network,

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housing/employment distribution and resident trip characteristics by using existing land use
models, to provide basic data for travel demand analysis; Add the accessibility into traditional four
step travel demand analysis as importation feedback condition of the model; Use the indicator
system which includes accessibility to carry out comprehensive evaluation and multi-objective
optimization to obtain optimum plan.

8.3 Integrated urban and transportation planning

Profoundly recognizing overall characteristics of urban transportation system is meaningful for
urban planning, construction and management. As an open, complex and giant system, urban
integrated transportation system has distinct strata, phases and dynamic features. So the integrity
and coordination of urban transportation system should be accentuated. Lu Huapu (2006)
proposed a typical process of integrated urban and transportation planning.
The integrated planning is divided into 5 phases: macro interactive feedbacks and adjustment
among city form, land-use and transportation system, micro interactive feedbacks and adjustment
among city form, land-use and transportation system, land-use-coordinated road network
planning, land-use-coordinated integrated transportation system planning, and planning
implementation.
Firstly, according to the changes of city structure, land-use, population and other exterior
factors of the transportation system, primary urban spatial structure and the corresponding landuse form and population distribution could be gained. Then the planning should focus on the
spatial distribution of traffic corridors and the main transportation hubs under the condition of a
given urban structure and land-use form. Further optimization and feedbacks should be carried out
based on governmental policy and city planning theory.
Secondly, transfer hub planning is carried out based on optimized urban spatial structure
scheme and land-use characteristics. Based on the demand characteristic analysis of different
transfer hubs, micro land-use and population distribution are iteratively adjusted.
Thirdly, based on apt trip choice behavior mechanism, we can forecast the demand
characteristics of urban transportation especially public transportation. Such characteristics can be
optimized by adjusting the existing land-use development density. Then the final scheme of
different types of transfer hubs and arteries can be determined. After this, transit routes planning
are implemented based on traffic demand distribution in view of different land-use types. Taking
into account factors such as environment, energy, geographic features, transportation efficiency, a
final transit planning scheme can be obtained; meanwhile other outcomes like urban land-use
optimization scheme, artery network and urban transfer hub plan, can also be gained.
At last, the work left is to accomplish integrated transportation system planning and its
implementation.

175

Figure 8.64 The process of integrated transportation and land use planning

176

8.4 Transit-Oriented Development (TOD)

8.4.1 Breath and scopes of TOD
8.4.1.1 What is TOD
Over the past years, there has been several descriptions of transit oriented development, such as
Transit Village, Transit-supportive Development and Transit-friendly Design, but TOD is the most
employed term and viewed as the most accurate and comprehensive description. Not surprisingly,
there is no universally accepted definition of TOD. In fact, it has been defined at a number of
levels and a variety of scales. For example:
During the early 1990s, architect and planner Peter Calthorpe added more specifics to the
definition of TOD: A Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) is a mixed-use community within an
average one-fourth-mile walking distance of a transit stop and core commercial area. The design,
configuration, and mix of uses emphasize a pedestrian-oriented environment and reinforce the use
of public transportation. TODs mix residential, retail, office, open space, and public uses within
comfortable walking distance, making it convenient for residents and employees to travel by
transit, bicycle or foot, as well as by car.
The Technical Advisory Committee to the Statewide TOD Study developed the following
definition: Transit-oriented Development (TOD) is moderate to higher-density development,
located within an easy walk of a major transit stop, generally with a mix of residential,
employment and shopping opportunities designed for pedestrians without excluding the auto.
TOD can be new construction or redevelopment of one or more buildings whose design and
orientation facilitate transit use.
Maryland Transit Administration defined TOD as a relatively high-density place with a
mixture of residential, employment, shopping, and civic uses located within an easy walk of a bus
or rail transit center. The development design gives preference to the pedestrian and bicyclist.
In general, there is an agreement within the professional transit community as to what
constitutes a TOD: a pattern of dense, diverse, pedestrian-friendly land uses near transit nodes
that, under the right conditions, translates into higher patronage.
TOD can be seen as an alternative to sprawl, as a mixed-use transit friendly community, and
as a specific development type. This study gives the definition of TOD based on other available
definitions: moderate high-density development, located within an easy walk of a major transit
stop, generally with a mix of residential, employment and shopping opportunities designed for
pedestrians without excluding the automobile. The land use should be well integrated with transit
facilities so as to guide smart-growth of the city and therefore limit urban sprawl, with increase in
ridership and also land value.

8.4.1.2 Classification and basic structure of TOD

Calthorpe further distinguished various types of TODs based upon the level of transit serving
them: Urban TODs are located on the Trunk Line Network of the regional transit system, at light

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rail stops or at transfer stations, and may be developed at high commercial intensities and
residential densities.
Neighborhood TODs are located on the Feeder Bus Line Network within 10 minutes transit
travel time from a light rail stop or transfer stations and should place an emphasis on residential
uses and local-serving shopping.
A typical TOD mainly contains the following types of land use: Transit Stop, Core
commercial Area, Office/Employment Area, TOD Residential Areas, Secondary Area and
Public/Open Space. (Figure 8.15)

Fig. 8-15 functional structure of typical TOD

Tab. 8-2 basic functions of typical TOD

Land use
Core
Area

commercial

Functions
Each TOD must have a mixed use core close to the transit station; the area of core
commercial should be at least 10 percent of the total TOD area. Its size and mixed-use
should be coordinated with the size, location and its region and the function of the TOD.
Provision of shopping malls, supermarkets, restaurants, theaters and other entertainment
facilities, will enable employee and the residents in TOD and its secondary area who
walk or use bicycle complete many travels for basic life and shopping

Office/Employment
Area

In order to relax the large commuter traffic pressure caused by the division of job and,
TOD emphasizes the balance layout of jobs and housing, so generally TOD has the
office/employment areas. Usually office/employment areas are adjacent to transit site to
encourage people of long-distance travel to work rely more on public transport and also
ensure the efficiency of public transport travel.

TOD
Areas

Residential

Residential area is the living space within walking distance to the core business district
and bus services. Living density in TOD residential areas should have different types of
residential mixed meet the basic requirements. To meet the requirements of bus lines, the
smallest neighborhood TOD average population density should not be less than 18 living
units per hectare, the smallest city TOD average population density should not be less
than 25 units per hectare. To meet the rapid bus lines and the track laying, population
density needs to be further improved.

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Secondary Area

While TOD encourages high-density land use, it doesnt rule out housing choices of
various levels. Also, service of a wider scale of population helps the development of the
core business district inside TOD and improvement of service population of transit
station, so it is necessary to have low-density development close to the TOD external,
referred to as Secondary area. Secondary area is in the distance of 1 mile from the transit
site; Secondary area must be provided with bus stations and the core business district
directly linked to the streets and bike paths. In the secondary area, mainly layout
appropriately low-density residential, public schools, large community parks, fewer jobs
and transfer the company parking lot. At the same time note that the TOD and easy to
create competition within the core business of commercial and public facilities should
not be set up in the Secondary area.

Open/Public space

TOD should provide people favorable communication space interiorly, which includes
park, plaza, green land and also public constructions.

8.4.1.3 Application area of TOD strategy

The TOD site must be located either on an express transit system, with service on 10 to 15 minutes
headway, or on a feeder bus line network within 10 minutes transit travel time from the express
transit system. It must be located within an Urban Growth Boundary.
TOD concepts can be applied to totally undeveloped sites in urban growth areas that located
within an urban growth boundary, which will be served by an express transit system or within 10
minutes transit travel time along a feeder bus line. TODs in urban growth areas may be surrounded
by Secondary Areas. In this case, TODs are an opportunity to promote efficient development
patterns in newly developing areas. Urban growth areas should be developed as a series of TODs
linked by transit systems.
TOD concepts can be applied to infill and redevelopment sites located in urbanized areas
with existing usage. They must have available capacity for infrastructure on and adjacent to the
site and be located on the express transit system or within 10 minutes transit travel time along a
feeder bus line. In these areas, land that remains unused or not fully used can be redeveloped, or
used in a new way. Implementation of the TOD concept on infill and redevelopment sites has the
opportunity to redefine development patterns from auto-oriented to transit-oriented. Careful
consideration must be given to the selection of appropriate sites to ensure that any traffic and
utility constraints are not worsen. At the same time, the coordination with existing urban style
should be considered.
TOD concepts can be also applied to existing retail, office, and industrial sites by adding
mixed-uses with structured parking on existing surface parking lots. To encourage compact
metropolitan growth patterns, existing underutilized lands should be redeveloped as TODs,
particularly sites at or must be located within an Urban Growth Boundary adjacent to existing or
planned transit stops.

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8.4.2 National and International perspectives on TOD

8.4.2.1

TOD in United States

From large scaled regional plan to small scaled extension plan, from reformation in build up area
to development in suburban area, from transit corridor to station area, the TOD concept has been
widely used across the United States. According to the research from Berkeley in 2002, there were
already 137 TODs completed, under construction or in plan.
Portland, Sacramento and San Diego are examples of large scaled regional plan. The Portland
regions TOD program is carried out by local governments which adopted a regional
comprehensive plan and Urban Growth Boundary Growth that are consistent with the growth
management strategy. Sacramento set up TOD guideline to carry out new comprehensive plan and
confirm new development area, extension area and redevelop area through regional Light Rail
Transit (LRT) system. The city of San Diego applied TOD design rules as important component in
guiding land arrangement and city forming.
Jackson-Taylor in San Jose, California and Capital River Park in Sacramento are typical
examples for reformation in build up area. Jackson-Taylor project turned freight rail to the
extension of LRT and commuter service. Thus, former industrial site is changed into mixed-use
community with retail, office and moderate to high density residential. Capital River Park project
also took the chance of developing transit system on one side of the base, changed the former
industrial site which located in the city center into a new energetic mixed-use center. Generally,
TOD projects in CBD or build up area cooperate closely with local redevelopment phase, keep or
revive the comer center by increasing its livability.
For development in new town, the Placer Villages in California and the Lexington Park in
Florida are good examples. The Placer Villages is a new town not far from the city center of
Sacramento and is connected to the city center by LRT system. Its construction alleviates the
pressure of other community in the region and also the traffic congestion problem. The Lexington
Park is located on the commuter rail in planning, including 5 villages that are linked to the
commuter rail by feeder bus lines. It is a potential job/housing balanced new town.
For transit corridors, 21 metropolitans in the US applied rail-served TOD pattern, among
which San Francisco BART, Portland Oregon TriMet, Seattle Light Rail System and Dallas Area
Rapid Transit are most famous ones. Although the TOD concept could be used on various transit
systems including rail transit, bus or even highway, rail transit is most used in this field for its high
capacity and security, low energy and environmental cost.
Projects show that on city level, TOD could stimulate development along transit routes and
thus confer benefits to local real-estate markets. From the construction of the first line of
Portlands MAX light-rail system in 1978, all the 64 stations have already attracted over 3 billions
dollar real-estate development within walking distance. A study of Portland University found that
the price of housing within a 300-meter walking distance of stations is 10% higher than those
farther. Also, TOD can increase the ridership of transit system and provide more choice of
conveyance. Researches found that TOD can reduce automobile traffic by 5%-20%, the difference
is mainly decided by land use arrangement around transit station and the highest reduction ratio is
obtained in mixed-use area with an emphasis on commerce. But the precondition of these benefits

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is a successful TOD and the success is limited by the citys environment and economic condition.
So the execution of TOD must be adjusted to regional condition and different strategies, activities
and implementation tools should be applied during the promoting process, combing the force of
government, transit agencies, developers and researchers.
8.4.2.2

TOD in Tokyo

Tokyo is an international metropolitan where 8.2 million people live within 20km from city center.
High density development of the city decides the concentrated traffic inside the city. In 1990 car
ownership ratio in Tokyo is 70% of that in Paris and 50% in New York. But its intensity of car use
per unit land area is respectively 2 times and 1.4 times of the latter two cities. Lack of land and
petrol, Japanese government has always been promoting policy to encourage public transport. The
railway system in Tokyo (including ground and underground) is the most important transit mode
of the city and almost the only profitable rail system in the world.
Different from other international metropolitans, the famous ring road that surrounds CBD of
Tokyo is not a freeway with high capacity but a ring railway, Yamanote Line. Same as ring roads
in other cities, Yamanote Line alleviates the traffic pressure of city center and at the same time
brings large number of employees and shoppers to city center. CBDs, old and new, nearly all
locate around the stations of Yamanote Line and Chuo Line. For example, at the sub-center
Shinjuku, which is developed in the 1970s, commerce centers, entertainment centers and public
constructions are no more than 1000m from transit station. Continuous walking system like
skywalk and underground walkway protect passengers from automobile and bad weather. As most
activities can be completed around the station, train became the most convenient and frequently
used mode to get in the area.
Moreover, there are a series of typical transit villages along the suburban railroad that are in
radical to Yamanote Line. Large community centers are around transit stations, walkway system
with nice sight connecting the center to residential areas and residents can help pedestrian easily
walk or take bus to railway station. According to a survey of Domo City, 67.8% of the total trips to
railway station are made by walking, 24.7% is by bus and only 6.1% is by car. Obviously, this
composition of land use not only attracts long trips to railway, but also reduces automobile traffic
inside the community.
8.4.2.3

TOD in Hong Kong

With nearly 7 million people, Hong Kong is one of the most populous cities in the world. Only
17.8% of its land is under the altitude of 50m with the rest of cliffy hills. Despite of the high
intensity, the city traffic remains smooth and traffic pollution remains under control. This owe to
the citizens high ratio of transit use. From the 1980s, public transport has been taking over 80% of
all trips made and only about 6% of resident trips are made by private vehicle. To a great degree,
this success owes to transit-oriented land use pattern of the city. According to vital statistics
analysis, 45% of the population lives within 500m of railway stations. If taking only Kowloon,
New Territories and Hong Kong Island into consider, this ratio even reaches to be 65%. Except a
few exclusive villas on the side and top of the mountain, most residence which do not locate
around the rail station usually form high density clusters around bus stops. This arrangement helps
bus route to elongate distance between stops and thus increase travel speed and shorten the

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distance from home to transit stop. With abundant ridership, transit agencies could get enough
benefit to maintain high-quality service and circulate in good condition.

Fig. 8-16 population density in HongKong

Hong Kongs land use pattern for job is quite similar. 78% of employment centralizes around
8 commercial centers near railway stations, using only 2.5% of the total area of New Territories.
Business centers highly concentrate around large comprehensive hubs of all kind of transit
vehicle. For example, the average job density is over 2000/ha. along the railway Central
AdmiraltyCauseway Bay.

8.4.2.4

TOD in Stockholm

Different from Tokyo and Hong Kong, Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, is a low-density city
with less than 0.8 million people. In Europe, Sweden is a lag developed country, where the
industrialization took place only after the War II and over 90% of its residence was built after
1946. It is one of the richest countries in Europe, with a GDP per capita of $17900. Also, its car
ownership of 420 vehicles/1000 persons is the highest in Europe. Noteworthy, although having the
precondition of complete mobilization, Stockholm becomes the most transit oriented European
city because of its land use pattern.
In Stockholm, half of the population lives in the city center and the other half lives in satellite
towns which all locate at the stations of radical railways. The scale and land use pattern are very
favorable to walking: exits of railway disposed at public plaza, surrounded by supermarkets,
retails, nursery and other service facilities. Moreover, sideways with benches, cafs and parterres
connect residence to the community center. The density of house decreases gradually from center
to margin and meanwhile, the grade of house increases. This land use pattern is especially

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favorable for low-income residents to use public transport. (Fig. 8-17)

Fig. 8-17 the land use patter of satellite towns in Stockholm

8.4.3 Visioning and planning TOD in China

The definition and expectation of TOD are different in different countries and cities. In foreign
countries, the main goals of TODs are real-estate development and regional construction. For
Chinese cities, where intensive local land exploitation and macroscopic urban sprawl coexist,
TOD is an opportunity to combine city planning and transportation planning. It could provide
highly integration of urban transport and land use, different modes, traffic network and transport
hubs, transportation planning and management. The ultimate goal of TOD is to build up a smooth,
safe, effective, convenient, ecologic and economic comprehensive transportation system which
gives priority to public transport, coordinates different modes and leaves passengers the free
choice.
TOD and joint development have good effects in integrating the construction of rail transit
and land use development. As many Chinese cities are constructing or planning on rail transit,
these experiences are especially precious. While introducing these planning methods and
development policies, we should notice that there are both similarities and differences between
transportation system and land use of Chinese and western cities. These will surely influence the
application in China. To improve the method according to these influences, we must begin with
analyzing the differences of implementation of TOD in Chinese cities.
8.4.3.1

Advantages during TOD implementation

Land nationalization
Different from developed countries, all land in China is owned by the nation and the
government has strict control in land use. So, the government can play a magisterial role during
the implementation of TOD strategy.
Policy guidance on public transit
The Department of Construction has specially issued an article (March 6th, 2004), in which
the priority on public transport was emphasized. For many Chinese cities, the outgoing of this
policy is certainly a great chance to implement TOD strategy.

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Continuity of city history

China has not yet experienced auto-oriented development and most cities still keep a singlecenter intensive development pattern. Land use such as commerce, office and residence are mixed
up in the concentrated old town with high population density and great potential of public
transport. Thus, to some degree, TOD is more favorable in Chinese cities than in western
countries.
Theories and experiences in foreign countries
Although the TOD concept has been introduced and discussed in Chinese academia and there
are already some projects in Chinese cities like Guangzhou and Nanjing, TOD theories and
researches are still not mature compared to foreign countries. In this regard, we should draw on
the experience of foreign cities and apply it with careful consideration of the actuality of Chinese
cities, therefore establish a suitable TOD theory. The theory and planning methodology will guide
the construction of TOD community and the smart growth of city space.
8.4.3.2

Disadvantages during TOD implementation

The disconnection of urban land use and transportation planning

In the overall planning of many Chinese cities, transportation planning is simply based on
land use planning. Moreover, transportation planning usually plays a passive role and is only
cursorily assumed. This kind of unreflecting study causes uncoordinated relation between land use
arrangement and transportation system. Therefore, public transport can hardly guide city
development and is to some extent limited by this pattern.
The faultiness of urban transit system
At present, public transport system in many Chinese cities are not yet fully developed. The
hierarchy of transit routes, bus lanes and signal priority are still in research stage. Public transport
is far from meeting the need of city development. Serious overloading, low speed, severe
congestion and disturbance of private vehicles cause a poor transit service which makes people
rather choosing automobiles.
The irrationality of urban land use
The urban land use planning in Chinese cities is not integrated with transportation planning.
For example, some projects that will attract large amount of traffic lack traffic influence forecast
before construction. The concentration of these projects along one road or in the same block can
result in serious local traffic problem. Also, the intensive single use of certain area causes too
many unnecessary trips which increase traffic pressure.
Insufficient investment
Generally, powerful tools to guide the city development are rail transit or trunk BRT lines
which are much more expensive compared to normal bus. Additionally, large amount of
investment is needed in the process of city reforming and enhancing public services. So the TOD
implementation needs huge investment. And for Chinese cities, this problem is especially serious,
lack of experiences and a mature market.
Double pressure under urbanization and motorization
Chinese cities are now in rapid growth and more and more people get into the city. This
enforces city to enlarge itself or form sub-centers around it. At the same time, the auto industry has

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become important to China and is encouraged by the government. Cars are getting into ordinary
citizens home and provide them more choices. The huge change in urban transport structure will
get the mobility, relative accessibility and directionality into turbulence. Meanwhile, the structure
of city space, the characters, functions and amount of urban land use will also be changed. As a
result, there will be many possibilities in the pattern of city development and land use.

8.4.4 Planning principles, methodology and suggestions for TOD

implementation
8.4.4.1

Scope

To ensure the multi-functional intensive land use around transit stations, TOD should be defined
on spatial scope and development density. Usually, the spatial scope is defined by the influence
radius of subway station. Considering various factors of the actuality in Chinese cities, a
maximum walking distance of 500-600m is commended, which corresponds a walking time of
10min. The influence of rail transit is about within this area. Thus walking environment should be
improved to extend this distance and therefore enlarge the direct influence area of transit stations.
Additionally, as bicycle is historical mode, it could be one of the main transfer modes to rail
transit. Take reasonable time limit of 10min and normal speed of 11-14km/h, the influence
distance is about 1.8-2.3km.
Conclusion: a maximum influence distance of 2km from transit station is commended, in
which main transfer modes are walking, bicycle and bus. The direct influence area is within 500m
of transit station and is emphasized throughout research.
8.4.4.2

Density

The land use density and diversity are the most important factors to insure the success of TOD.
Especially, land use density is the most important factor influencing VMT (Vehicle Miles
Travelled). According to literature that analyzed the data from 261 LTR stations in 19 cities of the
US and Canada in 1995, there exists a positive correlativity between transit share and population
density. The elasticity coefficient is up to 0.6, which means 10% increase in population density
will relatively raise the city transit share by 60%. Experiences abroad show that the compatible
density for TOD community is 25~45 dwelling units and 50 job positions per acre. For Chinese
cities where the current density is already high, these indicators are apparently not enough.
References in Asian super cities like Hong Kong and Tokyo should be taken. The development
density around transit stations should be set according to the actuality of land use. The Floor Area
Ratio (FAR) of commerce, entertainment and office should be controlled around 6, and for
residential area the FAR is about 4.
8.4.4.3

clustered area and stations

The adjustment strategy of area along transit line

The planned subareas along rail transit line are categorized into three kinds according to the
land use status: integrated planning area, appropriately adjustment area and fine-tuning area.
Suggestions of adjustment strategy to these different categories are given below. (Table. 8-3)
Table. 8-3 Adjustment strategy of area along rail transit

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Area

Land use status

Adjustment strategy

integrated
planning area

new growth
area

Focus on adjustment of land function, improve the intensity of land

development, and give priority to urban functional facilities. Well
organize land use and density distribution on both sides of the transit
trunk, to better serve the rail transport system.

appropriately
adjustment
area

redevelopable
area

Emphasize on integration and comprehensive alteration. Rectify land

use pattern and density on the basis of considering actuality. Balance
development density and actual indicators. Land use control should
particularly emphasize on permutation of land use function and
therefore increase land value.

fine-tuning
area

build up area

Optimize land use function by prudence local adjustment in nearby area.

Human-scaled old town facilities that are favorable to TOD should be
protected. Emphasize on consummating transfer system between rail
transit and bus or walking.

The adjustment strategy of different types of transit station

TODs have different functions in different locations of the city, so the interior land and
function organization should also be different according to station type. In order to better consider
the location of station, the function of its transit line and land use status around it, therefore
develop more targeted adjustment decisions, transit line area is divided into punctual areas around
transit stations. On the basis of foreign experiences, TODs are sorted in 4 categories: city center
station, community center station, commerce center station and other station. Adjustment
principles for each category are given below. (Tab. 8-4)
Tab 8-4 Adjustment principles for station category
Station

Station features

Adjustment principles

category
City

center

station

Main

office/business

Perfect

their

functions

of

major

business,

financial,

administration center with high

administrative, cultural entertainment, services and housing.

population density and location

Provide more mixed use land and public open space that serves

advantage

a larger urban area. Ensure adequate and comfortable walking

space while widening the roads and keep improving the
walking system. Ensure convenient transfer facilities between
various transport modes and provide a seamless interface to the
surrounding facilities.

community

large residential area

Dispose appropriate scale of business services and parks or

center

public space that serves communities services. The land use

station

should support multiple functions and provide more jobs.

Create a comfortable space environment of much fun. Rail
Transit station entrances and exits correspond the main travel
routes of people flow and public transport facilities. The
development of land surrounding transit station should mainly

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focus on moderate to high density living facilities and

supporting services.
commerce

commerce/entertainment/service

Provide more functional facilities and mixed land, improve its

center

center

integrated business services and introduce appropriate high-

station

grade entertainment and leisure facilities. Ensure convenient

links between rail transit station and adjacent commercial and
recreational buildings and facilities. Development of land
surrounding the station should mainly focus on high-density
residential to commercial and entertainment-oriented services.

other station

other social activity center (eg.

Improve the corresponding supporting services and facilities to

Tourism/ science & education

provide an appropriate degree of commercial leisure facilities.

center)

Focus on beautiful, personalized landscape in creating the

environment surrounding sites; provide walking space and
public space. Create a cultural, leisure atmosphere to perform
the city's special scene. Roads should be designed to meet a
variety of travel modes and ensure the access of different
levels of public transport facilities to meet the large flow of
people.

8.4.4.4

Planning Methodology

To strengthen the coordination of urban land use planning and public transport planning, it is
essential to closely integrate the development planning of public transport with urban spatial
structure on macroscopic level, with district land development on the concept level, and with
detailed design of the street ( or neighborhood) on microscopic level, and set rational public transit
network and sites and promote a transit oriented land use shape in each stage of planning.
On the macroscopic level, at the same time of setting the urban development goals, axis and
reasonable composition of population and industries, corresponding overall layout and alignments
of public transport network should be carefully thought over to guide the smart growth of urban
development.
On the concept level, the relation of area and city should be fully taken into account. On one
hand, the location choice of public transportation network site must be based on the current and in
planning status of urban land use, approaching high-intensity, high-density sites should be chosen
for transit stations; On the other hand, on the basis of taking full consideration of the alignments
and the site laid, integrated planning of residential, commercial office, commercial and other types
of land use along public transport lines should be done to balanced the construction size of various
types and therefore arrange reasonable intensive community space and open space
On the microscopic level, according to the geographical location of the plot, as well as the
distance between plot and transit stations, The following steps should be taken: determine the
nature and intensity of plots land development; adjust and improve various land use, walking and
cycling, road systems and public transport system design to build transit-friendly community

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environment.
In addition, the awareness of transit-oriented of urban planning policy makers and planners
should be improved through various means. Their forward-looking, systematic, coordinated
understanding of urban planning should be strengthened to ensure the effective strategy
implementation of TOD. Because transit-oriented urban space and land development is a process
of continuous feedback loops, in the specific planning, firstly the initial scheme of urban spatial
structure and trunk transit routes network should be determined in accordance with the status quo
of urban spatial structure; secondly, analyze the coordination of TOD strategy and space growth to
adjust and optimize the layout of the trunk transit routes network and get into the next cycle, until
the coordination of TOD strategy and space growth meets the planning goals. So the smart growth
of urban spatial structure in coordination with trunk transit routes network is achieved and on the
basis of this, planning on concept level microscopic level could be carried out.
8.4.4.5

Principles of Design

Usually, TOD encourages walking and public transport and restricts car use. A general design
feature of TOD is created with such characteristics of the region, namely the environment for
walking the landscaping, car parking layout, construction design, and so on all kinds of
appearances to promote walking and bus travel characteristics. The main design features of TOD
are as follows:
Select the transit station or stop to ensure major origin or destination of transit riders are in
easy walking distance. Avoid tortuous streets and end road. Design street grid system to networkstyle;
Design continuous and safe sidewalks and crosswalks to make pedestrian access easy
Consider the bottom of the street commercial building walls, various building height,
structure and appearance to enhance the feeling of walking;
Bike paths and storage locations that encourage bicycle access
Essential services and conveniences those are located in, or in close proximity to, the transit
station
Reduce the provision of car park outside the road; the parking lot in behind the building;
Provide services such as shelter facilities, seats, and information at transit stops;
An overall environment that is active, human scaled, and visually diverse and interesting.
8.4.4.6

Recommendations of TOD strategy for Beijing

Adjust the functions of city by developing TOD according to local conditions

The subway construction should be speed up in the old town; vigorously develop the
properties above the station, carry out the replacement of land functions, improve the city
landscape. Make full use of land value and optimize land use structure, make appropriate
demolition and construction, do overall planning for surrounding property development. Pay
attention to integration of the development status and characteristics of land surrounding the sites.
Classify sites according to their different functions, make practical, cost-effective development.

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On the basis of specifying the city function of new town, make objective, well-targeted
development. In the process of building sub centers, move out the population, industry and
resources in good order from the city center by means of constructing high-efficiency, networkbased, large volume traffic system and therefore make full use of functional division of different
areas and complementary resource allocation. Focus on the construction of mixed land use
development, to provide the diversity of industries and employment structure, to avoid a single
function of the living and to build up a job/housing balanced independent new town.
That differential density rather than density itself is the key of TOD. Urban areas may have a
density already high enough, but the development density city of center TOD should be still
higher. In rural areas density is generally low; the density of suburban TOD neighborhoods should
be higher than its surrounding areas, although the actual density is likely to be lower than the
average of urban areas.
Promote new town development with rail transit stations as centers
Organize the new town construction with rail transit stations as centers, adjust and optimize
land use around the site with full integration of their respective features. Built attractive, welldesigned, walking favorable, high-density, compact office, living and commercial complex and
industrial groups around the site. Increase the proportion of residential area and improve the
regional travel flexibility, sustainability, accessibility, habitable, social diversity and selectivity
away from the rail transit stations.
1) Easy access design in the construction of the station itself, to achieve the "seamless
interface" between rail transit and buses;
2) Clear functional objective of feeder bus lines of rail transit, so as to well serve the new
town's main living area, which can improve transit accessibility and also bring adequate customers
for rail transit;
3) Focus on the infrastructure construction surrounding stations, improve the accessibility
and security of walking and bicycle traffic, including the Park and Ride of bicycle and its
coordination with walking system.
Strengthen public awareness and transparency of information
Promote vigorously urban planning scheme to help developers and people have sufficient
knowledge and understanding of government decision-making. This will help guide the industry,
business, jobs and the smooth relocation of the population. Strengthen the transparency of
information between the government the public, which can increase the public's confidence in
government decision-making and avoid the negative impact of blind investment.
Provide relevant policies and interests support to guide developers to achieve mixed-use
development
Learning from foreign experience, establish the coordination mechanism for joint
development to do the overall planning of land resources use and efficiency allocation. Its
government functions can control and manage land development from the perspective of planning,
encourage mixed development from the perspective of laws, regulations and policies. Its
commercial functions can guide the development direction with interests support from the
perspective of the market, so that development activities are more orderly in set direction.

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1) Improve planning and control system

First, promote quantitative research of mixed land use in the planning process to form
effective planning and control methods. Second, modify current classification standards of urban
construction land to adapt the needs of mixed land-use planning. While protecting public interest
in land development, establish the classification criteria to meet market demand by introducing the
type of mixed-use land.
2) Provide infrastructure and other key elements of the project
The project's early infrastructure development should be completed by the government, and
then separate private developers participate in the independent development of office, retail and
hotel uses. On one hand, the government can encourage development by providing funding for
development activities, rebuilding relevant roads and associated public parking lots; on the other
hand, development activities may be dependent on the timely provision of such facilities to some
extent, which will have follow-up impact in the development process.
3) Establish security system to help development projects get funding
For projects lack of sufficient funds for the development, the public sector should take the
responsibility of looking for funding, including city funds, commercial sponsorship and
compensation payment. In addition, it should create a new management system to ensure that this
commitment will still be abided by local officials after government change. Longer-term
development plan of mixed use needs more commitments from public-sector: relevant response to
the resistance as the development continuously pushing forward.
4) Reduce the price of land
City government can also reduce development costs through effective regulation of land
premium, thus encouraging mixed-use development activities. China's land ownership has decided
this to be the most effective, easy method.
5) Reduce taxes
Faced with the fact that mixed-use development needs high initial investment and private
development organizations in China are generally small, the Government should encourage
private development by setting various policies and regulations. For example, to allow urban
development in redevelopable areas, pay taxes according to the assessing the land value when
developers buy it, and fix the level of taxes maintain the same during the first 10 years, and during
year 11 to 25, the taxes of land and developed property do not exceed 50% of their original
assessed value.

8.5 Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Planning Research Guide

8.5.1 Summary of BRT system
8.5.1.1 Definition and features of BRT
Planners, operators and government officials might have diffrent understanding for BRT (Bus
Rapid Transit). Organizations, research institutions also have different definitions. U.S. Federal

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Transit Administration defines BRT as traffic mode with a large capacity which integrates high
level service of rail transit and the flexibility of ordinary transit. BRT uses buses, but the quality of
its services can lead people think of rail transportation("Think Rail, use buses)(Federal Transit
Administration, 2004). TCRP, in its report, carried out a detailed case study. BRT needs to be
defined as a rapid public traffic mode which is flexible, using rubber-tires vehicles. The mode can
integrate the station, vehicles, services, lanes and intelligent transportation system as an individual
system (TCRP, 2003). GTZ, in its "BRT Planning Guide" (BRT Planning Guide) defines that BRT
is a bus-based transportation system to provide a comfortable, cost-effective service.(GTZ, 2005).
These representative definitions above only focus on the superiority of the BRT system, such
as flexible, rapid and cost-effective and so on. In fact, throughout the history of the transit
development, BRT concept was first brought forward because of the initial intention to improve
public transport service standards. In 1937, BRT is first considered in the transportation plan in
Chicago. At that time, the plan is to change the three fast lines to rapid transit lanes operated on
the highway, while the city center and downtown also have bus lines. Since then, a succession of
project, such as Washington (1955-1959), St. Louis (1959) and Milwaukee (1970) take into
account the construction of BRT.
At the same time there are also a lot of the research reports on the BRT. The American
Automobile Association's 1966 report noted: "If the flow of the city centre is from a broad pool of
scattered areas, implementation of Rapid Transit System is the most suitable way." The features of
Bus Rapid Transit system include low input, wide coverage area, ease to change compared with
that of the rail system. For this reason, it is more suitable for the low density population area.
While in populated metropolitan, rapid transit system could also be applied, because of the
systems operational flexibility. A well-designed BRT system with stations through the city centre,
the rapid transit system can meet all the transit demand while the city's rail system has yet to be
established. In 1970 the report of the Rapid Transit Systems development potential pointed out
that the highway system has the redevelopment potential, such as reformed for exclusive rapid
transit lanes. The main factors to assess the potential of Bus Rapid Transit system are the
investment costs, operating costs, bus lines structure, and the connections of city centre and other
key passenger traffic hub.
Evidently, the concept of BRT is developed as people seeking the most suitable mode of
transportation; its realization is from the improvement and reform of the bus transportation.
Therefore, it is considered that the rapid transit system is the high-level city bus system. Figure 819 is the evolving process of the transport system of BRT. In this process, the bus service was
improved to have faster operational speed and greater capacity, and developed information
services. Worth to point here, a BRT lane normally indicates an exclusive bus lane or a lane
separated from other lanes by some other methods. Typically, a BRT lane is a signal lane design
used for demonstration during the initial BRT implementation period, or it is used to meet transit
demand of a transport corridor that connects a number of town centers. For the above reasons, a
rapid transit system not only indicates a BRT route, it is a also transit network that formed together
with other bus lines.

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Figure 8.19 Vary from lower level transit service to higher level rapid transit
(SourceBRT Planning Guide, GTZ)

The following is a brief analysis of the characteristics of BRT from volume, speed, and
construction cost. The analysis is done according to the statistical data of the BRT systems in
operation.
(1) Ridership of BRT
The following table is the statistics of daily ridership in North America and Oceania BRT
lines during work days. Ridership in South America is generally higher: 150,000 passengers in
Quito, 230,000 passengers in Sao Paulo, and 600,000 in Bogota. Over 1 million passenger in
Beiluoaoli , Curitiba and Eleigelei respectively.
Table 8-5 North America and Australia daily transit ridership counts
Transit tunnel

Seattle

46,000

Exclusive transit running ways

Ottawa

200,000

Brisbane

60,000

Pittsburgh

48,000

Adelaide

30,000

San Bernardino (L.A.)

18,000

Miami

12,000

Harbor (L.A.)

9,400

Charlotte

1,000

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Exclusive transit running ways on

urban major roads

Wilshire (L.A.)

55,000

Vancouver

14,00024,000

Ventura (L.A.)

10,000

The ridership on peak direction during peak hours is up to 650 veh/h (such as the BRT lane
connects New Jersey-to Lincoln Tunnel and the New York / New Jersey City Centre Bus Station).
Ottawas bus traffic is 180-200 vehicles per hour in peak hours. In the United States and Australia,
there are less than 100 vehicles per hour, usually in the 50-70 vehicles per hour. On South
American central bus lanes, largest flow during peak hours is 300 vehicles per hour.
The systems of more than 25,000 passengers in peak hours are New York's Lincoln Tunnel,
Bogota's Trans Milenio four-lane two-way bus lines, and the Farrapos Eleigeleis the bus line. Sao
Paulo Eleigelei Hong Kong and the central bus lanes number is nearly 20,000 passengers on the
peak.In Quito, Ottawa and Curitiba, and other places IS 8000-12000 . In United States and
Canadas cities, the BRT ridership is similar to or even higher than that of subways and light rail
(2) Operational speed
Bus Rapid Transit systems operating speed depends on types of road and bus service. The
average speed of buses on dedicated lane, is usually 64-80 km / h; But if there are stops along the
lane , the average speed varies depending on the dwell time on the station and distance between
stations, usually an average operating speed is 32 -48 Km / h. The speed is similar to the speed of
light rail operated on the same environment. Speed in Miami is slower, but it is mainly due to
more traffic signals and the long delay at intersections.
The average operating speeds in the United States and Canada are different: 12-22 km / h in
New York City, 24 km / h on Hollywood Street, Los Angeles. 30 km / h on Vanttola Main Street,
Los Angeles.
The average speed on Kuerdibas one-way roads and Bogota's "New Century" Express bus
line are about 30 km / h . The average speed of BRT with stops in South American is 18-22 km / h,
which is lower than that of the BRT system in United States and Canada. However, this is still a
big improvement of the traditional bus speed, even faster than that of a private car.
(3) Construction costs
The construction cost of a BRT system varies a lot depending upon the Rapid Transit system
configuration (such as lane, vehicles, etc.), line location, type of BRT, and structure. Normally, the
transit tunnel costs from 200 million to 300 million U.S. dollars per mile, including the cost of the
station. The cost for exclusive running way also varies depending on the starting time and ending
time of the construction.
The construction cost of a BRT in Los Angeles, Miami Miami, or Pittsburgh are 600 -700
million dollars per mile; The northern BRT line in Pittsburgh and the recently completed Brisbane
line are 20 million Dollars per mile; Pittsburgh West BRT line costs the highest, reaching 53
million U.S. dollars per mile. The main reason for such a high cost is that the BRT line is located
in mountainous areas, and the construction of a main tunnel and the construction of an interchange
at the terminal. The cost of the fast lane trunk road, Curitiba costs 1.5 million U.S. dollars / mile,
Bogota and Quito is 500-800 million dollars / mile, Cleveland is about 29 million U.S. dollars /

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miles. If use the lane for mixed traffic, generally the cost is less than the exclusive rapid transit
system. Cost of a rail-transit system is as follows: 2.4 million U.S. dollars / mile at Leeds and , 7
million U.S. dollars / miles at Rouen.
The statistics above show previously characteristics listed by organizations and research
institutions on the of the BRT, in general, BRT systems is a fast, low-cost and medium-capacity
mode of transportation.
8.5.1.2 BRT practice in Chinese cities
Up to 2007, Rapid Transit System (BRT) were put into operation in four cities in China :
Beijing, Hangzhou, Hefei and Kunming. BRT in Shenzhen, Jinan, Xi'an, Dalian are in the process
of planning and construction (Wang Hai-ying, 2007). This section is to summarize the experience
learned in the construction of BRT system, the concept of planning and development trends.
(1) Beijing axis Rapid Transit line 1 - the first rapid transit lines in China
Beijing South-Centre Rapid Transit line 1 was planned in 2003. The construction began in
early 2004 and it was included in the 60 practical promises the Beijing government done for the
people. On December 25 the same year a project (Muxi Yuan to the front door of 5 km) put into
test operation.
Bus Rapid Transit line 1 starts from QIANMEN at the city center, connecting Subway Line
2.To the south it passes the Second Ring Road, third ring, forth ring and fifth ring road , and ends
at Demao county at Daxing District, with a total length 16 km. It is one of Beijing's main traffic
corridors (Figure 8-20). There are 17 stops, one-way travel time is 37 min, and the actual
operational speed is 26 km / h. IC Card users have discount, and the transit fare are 40 cents for
adult and 20 cents for students.

Figure 8-20 Display of Southern Beijing BRT route No. 1

The total investment is 653 million yuan, of which government investment is 415 million
yuan, mainly for construction of roads, bridges and grade-separated walk way; BRT Companys
investment is 238 million yuan, mostly are operational cost, intelligent system in platforms and

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station's construction costs. The South-Centre Rapid Transit Line 1 s investment is about 40.81
million yuan per km on average.
The BRT vehicles are designed with left-open door, installed with air conditioning, and
equipped with Europe engines. They are low-floor design, so vehicle floor and high platform
are about at the same level; there are childrens and disabled peoples seats inside the vehicle,
reflecting the people-oriented concept. They also set up a proprietary right direction and intelligent
scheduling system to improve the operating efficiency.
December 30, 2005, at the first day of official operation, passengers are 9 million .At the first
three days (January 1, 2006) there are 120,000 passengers .on May 1, 2006 there are 20 million;
October 1, 2006 the number reached 220,000 .At the end of 2007, the accumulated ridership is
5253.08 million; the current daily ridership is 13 million on average.
(2) Hangzhou Rapid Transit Line 1
Hangzhou Rapid Transit Line 1 (hereinafter referred to B1 line) is about 28 km long, and is
designed with 23 pairs of stops, six transfer terminals, designed speed of 25 km / h, as shown in
Figure 8-21 . There are a set of facilities ,such as open and semi-dedicated lanes, signal priority, at
grade boarding, ticketing platform, platform gates, intelligent transport and other facilities.
Maximum designed flow is 157,000 passengers per day, the peak hour passenger flow capacity is
9,600 passengers / h, with 100 vehicles . Total investment is 150 million . They are financed by the
urban construction fund.

Figure 8-21 Plan of Hangzhou BRT route No.1

The new style 48 red-floor high capacity transit vehicles operated on the route. The vehicle

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was designed to use Germany Kaplan technology, using the European III engine, with 18meters
long and full capacity of 160 passengers, also with advanced air suspension system installed. After
BRT B1 route taken into operation, 8 bus lines and were called off and 4 lines adjusted, in total
200 buses not in operation anymore. To make the system more compatible,3 connection lines and
1 supplemental station were add to the system. In addition, these vehicles shared the same running
way and the at-grade connections were implemented.
(3) Hefei Huizhous Bus Rapid Transit line
Hefei GDP in 2006 is 107.386 billion yuan, and the per capita GDP was 23,200 yuan, so it is
unrealistic to make long-term large-scale trail transportation development in recent years. Hefei is
more suitable for prioritize the development of this relatively inexpensive transit with greater
capacity, faster, better services in short term. According to the BRT network planning (8-22), some
section of the roads at present cant meet the requirements for BRT, thus the exclusive bus lane or
quasi-transitional form of BRT can be taken into consideration. When the renovation plan of these
roads are in operation, the construction of BRT lane, sites, facilities will be designed.

Figure 8-22 BRT network plan strategies in Hefei

As to 2007, the construction of the Huizhou BRT lane has been completed, the site has been
reserved, major road intersections signal priority system has been embedded , roads civil
engineering has been basically completed. Overall, Hefei City of Rapid Transit System has just
begun, it is also necessary to develop technology research, investment and financing system,
operating mechanism reform, and other innovative aspects of public transportation development.
(4) Kunmings Rapid Transit System
1994, Kunming and Zurich started transport planning, it is the first time in China clearly put

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forward the "bus priority" development of the transport policy. At present the Public Transport
Priority Development Strategy is giving priority to the development of conventional bus and rapid
transit system, and gradually to the track in the long-term nurturing traffic flow. Bus Rapid Transit
was started from the development of the bus ,and now entered a rapid transit system construction
period.
November 2003, Kunming and the U.S. Energy Foundation cooperated on rapid transit
project. After inspecting Beijing BRT system and researching domestic and international
experience in 2006, they build the extension Beijing northbound lane BRT system. Kwong Fuk
Road BRT system also completed in 2007. Beijing northbound lane BRT system starts with the
Ring Road in Beijing Road junction, extends to YuLin Bridge. the total length is 4.985 km, there
are exclusive bus way and they encourage cycling and bus travel transfer , as shown in Figure 823.

Figure 8-23 Kunming rapid transit and running way

Beijing northbound lane BRT systems completion extent the Citys transit network,
connecting the citys north-south region, is "well" type of public transportation network.
Comparing to the original bus lane ,they enhance the capacity of the transportion (reach 1.5 to 2
million passengers / h in peak hours), increase the capacity of the road vehicle (4 225 pcu / h in
peak hours), easing the traffic congestion and improve the road environment, enhance the
landscape along the BRT system.

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8.5.2 BRT application and constraints

As mentioned above, a single BRT line is different from the BRT in the city bus service network.
The former involves a metropolis circle linking the city center or a single transport corridor, plays
a role to meet the inter-city demand. The latter together with other public transport means
constitute an integrated urban public transport network to meet the public transport needs. At
present the international community generally agree that public transport in urban cant be
replaced .Therefore, the essence of analyzing BRT lines / systems, is to analyze the Role BRT
lines / systems plays in the cities. We will show how the BRT lines / BRT system play its role with
the example of Los Angeles and Curitiba.

8.5.2.1 The integrated public transport system in Curitiba

Curitiba is one of the fastest growing cities in the south-eastern Brazil. In 1950 the urban
population was 30 million, in 1990 soared to 2.1 million. During this period, Curitiba becaome a
powerful industrial and commercial center from the past agricultural product processing center.
Rapid development led to heavy traffic demand. To solve this problem Curitiba developed BRT
system, not only support and promote urban development, but also be the effective protection of
the city's ecological environment. Together with Vancouver, Paris, Rome, Sydney , they are called
"the most suitable Habitat city "by the United Nations .
Before the planning of integrated public transport system, Curitiba was in the peak period of
the rapid urbanization. As road traffic growing, the city began to expand from the Center. Curitiba
faced with two options: first, expand and construct new roads to cope with the growth of cars,
supporting urban expansion; second, looking for a way which does not aim to meet traffic
demand. At that time, the planners proposed a concept that make the public transport system as the
core element in urban development and put it to the center of the planning. Under this concept,
Curitiba constructed an integrated public transport system. The system consists of a 340 line and
the vehicles including traditional buses, mini buses, articulated buses and double-articulated bus.
There are five main lines in the System (below in red pachytene), commitment by the BRT line.
These five lines is the axis of Curitiba.

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SourceIPPUC, 2003

Figure 8-24Rede Integrada de Transporte, RIT

In this integrated public transport system, BRT line played a role to meet the demand of
transport corridor, support development of the city, and the rest of the bus lines played a role to
aggregate the flow for BRT. The whole system use the BRTs capacity and public transports
connection effectiveness.
Curitiba's experience shows that, BRT lines can promote the city towards the desired
direction in space. In fact, the BRT system is not applicable to the development of the space, but
the BRT system to promote the development of the space.

8.5.2.2 Orange Line in Los Angeles

Los Angeles, in the west coast of the United States, is the second largest city in the U.S. Los
Angeles can be said to dependent on the car, whose roads are around 30 percent of the city's area.
Private car traffic holds the leading position. Vehicle ownership is the highest in U.S. cities. The

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development of private transport has led to the disordered spread of Los Angeles in space
development, forming a multi-center, low-density area.
Orange Line is a BRT line which is 14.2 miles (23 kilometers).The east end is Los Angeles
subway terminal, and the west is Los Angeles office centre. Along the road, it is the land used for
residential. It taked more than two years to construct Orange line. In about a year, its passenger
traffic tripled. After the completion, the average travel time shortened by 14 minutes in rush hour
peak period.
Compared to Curitiba, BRT lines in the Los Angeles played a role to promote the link
between the city centre and the outskirts, at the same time effectively reduce the dependence of
private transport , and improve the road environment.
Whether Curitiba, Los Angeles, or the other cities, the reasons for the use of BRT are to
promote the development of the entire public transport, and to meet the demand of the
development. So considering the position and role BRT plays from the perspective of network is
important. BRTs fundamental role is to support the development of the city. For Curitiba, the
city's development needs the public transport system to support and guide, BRT has played a main
role in guiding the direction of urban development in integrated public transport system. In Los
Angeles, it needs to spread in space. Additionally, BRT has played a role to connect lines to
support rail transportation .It reduces the reliance on cars , reduces pollution and promotes the
sustainable development of cities.
In China, large cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, are tension within the road resources in the
downtown areas, public transport demand is too large to the BRT line. But in the early stage of
development, the connection of the downtown areas and some satellite town centre has little
demand, and the shortage of funds make it possible to consider the BRT line, while avoiding the
excessive development of private transport. BRT line can also more easily converted to rail
transportation when there are Future demand or larger funds. For medium and small cities, public
transportation system need to be further improved in particular. It can avoid a car-oriented mode in
the future. It can also avoid the Disorder development in space. We can refer to the experience of
Curitiba, plan the land development and the construction of public transport entirely, fully use the
BRTs characteristics which is low-cost and have short construction period, establishing a public
transport network , promoting the citys orderly development in space.

8.5.3 BRT System development process

When the city decided to build the BRT, it is important to identify the role of BRT : whether it is
the backbone of the city's main public transport with a conventional bus network, or is simply the
supplement to rail transportation. The former is a network planning, while the latter is the planning
of individual lines.
The first step of planning a single line to choose a corridor based on traffic demand. This
corridor might be existed, or it could also be the future development direction of a city. The
research of the traffic corridor provides a basis for a signal line plan. The steps of the planning
process can be illustrated in the Figure 8-25.

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Corridor Selection

Demand Projection

Current demand for public

transport in the corridor

Demand shifted from

private automobile

Coordinated Land-use
Planning

Induced demand due to

service improvement or
land-use development

Station Planning

Implementation
Planning

Impact Assessment

Figure 8-25 the Flowchart of BRT development

Impact analysis is a critical component in the planning process, so the planners must analyze
various impact of BRT lines including the impact to the existing road system and the ecological
environment. This is the basis of the evaluation plan.
The design of BRT lines which has an important position in the network needs to consider the
entire public transport network. Its planning process is shown below.

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Transportation
Development Strategy

Coordinated Land-use
Planning

Adjustment

Adjustment
Network Schemes

Mode configuration

Network type

Route alignment

Station Planning

Assessment

Ridership
Projection

Implementation
Planning

Figure 8-26The planning process of integrate public transportation system

In the large cities with subway / light railway, they should play different roles according to
different traffic modes characteristics: subway should be the main lines in the network, light rail
and BRT should be the Medium and sub-capacity trunk lines and ordinary bus played a role to
gather the flow. For small and medium-sized cities without subway / light, BRT line should be the
main trunk line in network, and ordinary bus playes a role to gather the flow. In the form of
networks, small and medium-sized cities can use the hub-and-spoke network form, and large cities
are mainly used multi-center, multi-hub of the network form. Line-network programming process
is a constant adjustment process: First of all forecasting passenger flow by alternative programmes
, then doing a comprehensive evaluation of the programme, and then adjusting the programme
based on the evaluation results. Repeat this process until it is fit.
Operational planning is a very important part in integrating public transport system. As there
are many transit lines, it is likely to have different operators to operate bus lines, we must do a
good job in fare collection to make the transfer easier for passengers, truly integrated public
transport system.
There should also be a coordinated planning of land use at the same time, along with the
corresponding policies and measures to support BRT, promoting the orderly development of cities.

8.5.4 BRT system: Keys to success

(1) The urban land use patterns and urban public transport planning is the prerequisite for the
BRTs success. Traffic demand in a city that developed along a long strip results in strong demand
along the strip, and small demand perpendicular to the strip. This type of traffic demand is suitable

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for the full development of BRT system.

(2) There are few cities in China with traffic demand distributed along a narrow strip and the
cities scales are generally larger than those of abroad cities, thus it was difficult to implement BRT
system. Therefore, the BRT system in China should be well studied and fully demonstrated, in
order to avoid mistakes and waste.
(3) Above all, China cities should form a multi-mode public transport network, it is not
necessary to make a separate network for BRT system. A modern city public transport system
(except for taxis), should reflect the high efficiency and high quality of service. It should be a
complete system centered with transfer terminals, with rail transit lines and municipal ground
Express bus lines as the backbones, and bus-lines as basis .In big cities and metropolitan area, it is
important to emphasize on the construction of rail transit lines, with the bus lines as the transition
in the short-term even long-term. The medium-sized city, will have to vigorously promote the
construction of rapid bus Line or set exclusive bus lane. When traffic demand is higher than that
of ordinary buses and lower than that of light rail, we can consider the BRT system.
(4) BRT systems success depends on the following factors: successful operation and
management mechanisms, flexible construction methods, bicycle and pedestrian-first
management, parking management systems, and other economic measures that promote the use of
the public transportation. These incentives are as important as the system itself.
(5) We should give priority to the development of a comprehensive public transport policy
and measures. Public transport meets people needs. It is people-oriented transport system; public
transport is green transport, with the lowest consumption of resources, minimum environmental
cost, and it is a sustainable transport system. Therefore, it should be give priority in the
organizational structure, investment, planning, construction, government compensation, and road
management.
(6) We should realize the importance of development of passenger terminal. One of the most
important factors that impact the efficiency of urban transport system is the passenger transport
(bus transfer) terminal. Scientific planning of integrated transport terminal and making the transfer
between various transport modes to be zero-distance, are the key point to improve urban public
transport system efficiency .It is also the basis for the success of a BRT systems.
Above all, comparing to conventional public transport system, BRT systems has advantages
with greater capacity and faster speed. As compared with light rail system, it costs lower,
constructs faster and is more flexible. However, for the construction of BRT, we should study the
formation of appropriate conditions and the cities corresponding facilities seriously .Especially
with more attention to the coordinated development of the city's transport system and the
modernization of the public transport system ,we will make scientific decision.

8.6 Summary
The sustainable development of urban transport needs the support of related theory and methods
.In this chapter ,we first establish the objectives of sustainable urban transport planning, and
brought out the principles and the framework, including sustainable transport development

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strategy, Traffic flow survey, the theory of urban traffic demand forecasting, the integration of
urban transportation planning with land use, urban transportation energy consumption and
environmental impacts, and the system to meet the basic need of sustainable transport system
development..
At present, the strategy of sustainable transport development is being made on macroscopic
view, but the detailed guidance for planning BRT is not mature yet. Therefore, this chapter focuses
on the methods to conduct transport plan based on the accessibility, and the planning method
considering the balanced transportation and land use, TOD development model and BRT planning
methods .These concepts and methods are integral parts in the development of sustainable urban
transport.
Sustainable transport planning theory is not limited to the contents of this chapter. Before the
establishment of a complete theoretical system, some basic research results of this chapters will
help improve the current urban transportation planning.

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Policy & Practice, Vol.6, No.2: 13-19.
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for Evaluating Vehicle Travel Reduction Strategies[J]. Prepared for the U.S. department for
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205

Chapter 9 Realization Mechanisms and Policies for Public

Transport Priority
Public transport priority is one of the most important approaches to achieve sustainable
mobility in China. Policy can not implement without policy environment support. The
implementation result may differ from the same policy implemented in different cities. The key
difference lies in the enforceability of the policy. Enforceability defines the dynamic balance of
the benefits among related agents. With rapid urbanization, city diversity and increasing
development imbalance, different policy environments, benefit agents and their different benefit
appeal. Any given policy can hardly meet the diverse demand from urban transportation in
different development period. Therefore, compared with designing a single policy, it is better for
the dynamic mechanism and policy needs from public transport priority to develop a research
methodology and corresponding tool, which could reflect dynamic benefit appeal from related
agents in different environment.

9.1 Public transport priority

In the last 60s, some of western developed cities faced severe problems in the form of traffic
jams, high traffic accidents rates , air and noise pollution due to over-development of private cars.
Driven by an oil crisis, the French government, for the first time, put forward a public transport
priority to promote the development of public transport. This rapidly received positive responses
from other developed governments. Encouraged by the target of sustainable development, public
transport has been exalted to be green transport, and has been advanced all across the world.
The idea of a public transport priority put forward in the Chapter of Miachu Picchu (1977)
is to make private vehicles subject to the development of a public transport system. The 21st
Agenda emphasizes encouraging public transport with large passenger capacity. UITP (spell out)
has been applying itself to supply transport policies with emphasize on public transport. Though
nearly all the governments through the world have actively promoted public transport priority,
there has not yet been a widely accepted definition for it.
From a literal view, public transport priority means giving priority to public transport
development. Domestic research suggests that a public transport priority means that the
government authorities should give priority to public transport development using an integrated
transport policy supply, give priority to public transport development on planning and
construction, and to give priority to public transport development on fiscal investment and
taxation and giving priority to public transport development on the right of way (Chen, 2001).
Giving priority to public transport development is a behavior strategy of the government.
With the rapid urbanization in China, it is one of the most important approaches to achieving
sustainable mobility. The strategy of giving priority to public transport development, is where

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public transport priority makes clear its basic target, i.e. the principal status of public transport in
urban transportation. Therefore, public transport priority in current China means giving priority to
public transport development to achieve principal status in urban transportation. To achieve
principal status of public transport in urban transportation, priority must be given to: land-use,
right of way, investment, finance and taxation. It is also important to give priority to public
opinion - guiding public opinion toward public transport. Priority on technology development
should also be given that supports technology innovation in the field of public transport,
implementing new energy and clean energy vehicle technology and public transport management
technologies. And above all, the key to achieving a public transport priority is to achieve an
institutional priority, which means to bring the idea of a public transport priority into the current
institutional framework as a long-term solution for China.
From an economic point of view, priority means a preferential allocation of scarce resources
like land, capital, labor, technology and information. Participation from governments, enterprises
and residents, the preferential allocation of resources asks higher marginal returns, must all be
coordinated. Therefore, the equilibrium allocation of public transport service resources relies on
the interest game among the three participants. The governments interest function and preference
directly influence the priority allocation. The key to ensure the governments adherence and
implementation of a public transport priority requires cultivation of benefit preference and
behavioral incentive in the public transport field to promote the incentive in both horizontal and
vertically organized systems. This will ensure a long-term implementation effect of the public
transport priority measures. Concerning the public transport service market, to ensure realization
of principal status of public transport, it is important, on the one hand to: strengthen guidance on
public opinion, adjust public preference and social evaluation. It is also important to encourage
more trip decisions from the residents toward public transport through demand management
policies, like fare discount, private vehicle consumption policy and so on. These measures will
encourage better service from public transport companies through supply side policies like
subsidies and market access, to promote progress on market scale and service quality from both
demand and supply side to finally achieve principal status of public transport in urban
transportation.

9.2 Market demand model on urban public transport: residents

trip interaction and decision making
The urban transport market is sometimes puzzling. Figure 9.1 shows the correlation between
passenger volume and average bus fare of public transport in Beijing from 1985 to 2005. After
inflation adjustment, the average bus fare is nearly positively correlated with passenger volume in
the past twenty years. Another example is from Shanghai, as it shown in Figure 9.2. The average
bus fare in 1994 was 191% and 335% of that in 1993 and 1992 respectively though, but the bus
passenger volume correspondingly only decrease by 6.5% and 10.8%. From Jan. 1996, the
Shanghai government canceled monthly bus ticket, and at the same time supplied ticket subsidy
according to the residents income level, which could completely cover the extra trip cost increase

207

caused after the monthly tickets call off. The result is that compared with 1995, the bus passenger
volume sharply dropped down by 55% in that year of 1996, i.e. a reduction of 2.8 billion persontime.

Figure 9.65 Bus passenger volume and average fare in Beijing (19852005)

Figure 9.66 Public transport passenger volume in Shanghai (19782005)

How to explain these? Compared with aggregate method, the discrete model introduces
rational individual as the research unit in trip decision for the first time: the individual maximizes
its utility through choosing different trip modes, which has been widely accepted in classical
economics for a long time. Whereas, classical economics could hardly handle the abnormal
elasticity between bus fare and the demand volume, let alone the passenger volumes sharply
dropdown in a short period with a relatively stable price. On the other hand, in recent years, the
progress made in social psychology, behavioral economics, complex system research and
computer capacity greatly expand the research boundary of model man. It is likely to get a
better understanding of the complex nature of urban transport system through introducing ideas of
social group, psychology factors and interaction into agent-based system modeling and simulation.
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9.2.1 From aggregate to disaggregate: introducing economic man

From 1950s, four-step travel demand forecast method, which is the typical aggregate method, has
been widely accepted and applied in todays city transport planning. Taking a zone as basic
research unit and without clear behavioral hypothesis, the four-step travel demand forecast method
cuts apart the inner-relation between trip elements, therefore could hardly handle influence
analysis of transport policy implementation and traffic service improvement on individuals trip
and total travel demand, and therefore demonstrates obvious time and geographic limit and poor
model portability.
For the theoretical and application limit of aggregate method, from last 1970s, disaggregate
method has gradually developed with the great inputs from McFadden and other researchers. With
clear behavioral hypothesis, theory of random utility and probability, the disaggregate method,
taking individual and family as basic research unit, calibrates parameters through maximum
likelihood method with survey data to obtain multi-factors trip choice model and makes
forecasting based on this. Compared with aggregate method, disaggregate method makes a great
progress through introducing individual decision making. But the relations between individual
decisions are still cut apart and therefore could not actually consider the dynamics of total demand
from decision-making interaction among individuals.

9.2.2 From economic man to real man: recognition of decision

making behavior
9.2.2.1 Prospect theory and mental accounting
In recent years, behavioral economics is correcting basic assumptions of traditional economics and
making a subversive revolution through introducing psychology research into economics,
especially the research on individuals judgment and decision making under uncertain situation.
Kahneman and Tversky prove that there exists systematical departure between classical Expected
Utility Theory and real individual judgment and decision making under uncertain situations. The
Prospect Theory (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979) believes that people are risk aversion in case of
gains and risk seeking in case of losses. Both gain and loss are based on a reference point and
therefore are relative. The decision maker always shows more interest in relative change from a
reference point, rather than final value of wealth. Based on this, the adjustment of reference point
or expectation could partly explain the abnormal elasticity of bus fare mentioned before: rise in
price, which is lower than the expectation, could hardly reduce demand remarkably, on the
contrary, the rise higher than the expectation, will be exaggerate to bring great demand reduce.
From economics point, money is replaceable. That means money does not change from
different purpose. Mental Accounting Theory (Thaler, 1985) believes that people divide
replaceable money into different types and save it into different accounts. Different mental
account has different marginal consumption tendency, therefore money in different accounts can
not be totally replaced by each other. The existence of mental accounts sometimes leads to
irrational individual behavior: trip decision differs much after monthly ticket call-off, even with
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same amount of subsidy which could cover trip cost rise after monthly ticket call-off, for subsidy
and money for bus fare are saved in different mental accounts.

9.2.2.2 Social interaction and dynamics

Mainstream economics often assumes that consumer has fixed preference. But there are researches
believe that consumption choice is dynamic with time. Consumer behavior is basically a social
behavior and non-market interaction changes individuals utility (Kirman, 1997). The sociality of
consumer behavior is an important reason for consumer behavior change (Cowan, 2004.
Consumption decision making relies on specific groups behavior, rather than the whole
consumer, the market. The consumer makes a special niche in the group through its consumption
behavior. The utility of given goods to one consumer depends on the others behavior and
personals self orientation in the group. Reference group often leads to conformity through
information influence and norm influence. There are also researches which believes that majority
could sometimes also be defeated by minority who do their best Moscovici, 1985. The final
result depends on the specific situation. Complex group interaction makes dynamic in social
consumption trends (Cowan, 2004 . Individual expectation is structured by social interaction;
therefore, it is possible for the market to demonstrate delay and sudden change in response to
complex environment change.

9.2.3 Survey on residents trip decision: heterogeneous, complex

and dynamic
To get a better understanding of individual differences and distribution patterns on trip decision,
an online SP survey of Better Transport, Better City Resident Trip Decision and Public
Transport Use was held in 2007. Besides demographic information, the questionnaire covers five
sections listed as below:
1. Evaluation: traffic situation and public transport;
2. Private car consumption related: purchasing and use, like registration, parking, toll, fuel,
maintenance;
3. Necessary conditions for trip mode switch: time, cost and comfort conditions for switch
from private vehicle to public transport and from public transport to private vehicle;
4. Time and comfort value for different trip modes under different traffic conditions;
5. Social influence on trip decision and decision weight allocation: reference group influence
and individual decision weight allocation.
The survey finally collects about 4000 valid samples. It helps to understand individual
difference and distribution patterns on resident trip decision making. The heterogeneity,
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complexity and distribution patterns of residents trip decision demonstrated in the survey validate
the necessity and possibility of agent-based trip decision modeling. Meanwhile, the SP survey also
provides help in item filtering and initial simulation data preparation for multi-agent resident trip
decision model simulation. A brief introduction of complexity recognition of respondents trip
decision through the survey with the examples from Beijing and Shanghai is presented below.

9.2.3.1 Why to choose private vehicle?

The first three reasons for Beijing and Shanghai respondents to use private vehicles are: more
comfortable, more time-saving and more convenient to pick up family members (Beijing); more
comfortable, inconvenience of bus service and more convenient to pick up family members
(Shanghai). Dislike public transport and to improve social status are the last two reasons for
private vehicle use. Traffic jams ranks the first in the considering list of private vehicle users, with
the followings of roads condition, parking convenience, parking fee and driving safety. The
influences of fuel cost and driving tension are relatively small.

9.2.3.2 Could parking management reduce private vehicle use?

As it shown in Figure 9.3, 51.55% of Beijing respondents will reduce 25% of private vehicle trip
as parking fee goes up to 600 per month, and 62.36% respondents at parking fee up to 1000.
55.56% of Shanghai respondents will reduce 25% of private vehicle trip as parking fee goes up to
900 per month, and 69.44% respondents at parking fee up to 1000.

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Figure 9.67 Influence of parking fee on private vehicle use

Figure 9.68 Influence of parking time on private vehicle use

Besides parking fee, the parking time is another factor which has influence on private vehicle
trip. As it shown in Figure 9.4, when parking time reaches 20 minutes, there are 40% and 35%
respondents from Beijing and Shanghai respectively who will reduce 25% of private vehicle trip.

9.2.3.3 Willingness to pay for better bus service?

As it shown in Table 9.1, both of the respondents from different income level have strong
willingness to pay for better bus service, such as: stations building, reducing waiting time,
reducing inner-vehicle time, more ride comfort and so on.
Table 9.14 Willingness to pay for better bus service from different income
groups
Yearly income

Fare

WTP for 10

WTP for 10

WTP for 10

WTP for

WTP for less

()

()

minutes of

minutes of

minutes of

a seat

crowded

walking time

waiting time

inner-vehicle

(% of

condition

saved

saved

time saved

the fare)

(% of the

()

()

()

fare)

<10,000

1.74

0.13

49.35

26.43

10,000~30,000

1.98

1.68

1.24

1.36

93.69

76.89

212

30,000~50,000

2.19

3.35

1.67

2.62

124.87

80.78

50,000~100,000

2.55

5.68

2.53

4.39

189.71

105.66

9.2.3.4 Could vehicle purchasing plan suspend?

Table 9.2 shows the condition to suspend vehicle purchasing plan for different income level
respondents. Obviously, the current bus service conditions could hardly suspend vehicle
purchasing plan for middle and higher income respondents. With a rise in vehicle maintenance
cost, rail transport will hold a strong appeal to those families.
Table 9.15 Conditions to suspend vehicle purchasing plan
Yearly income

Monthly maintenance

Lower limit of average bus

Higher limit of one-way bus

()

cost higher than ()

speed requested (km/h)

fare requested()

<10,000

781

20.63

1.23

10,000~30,000

1672

25.34

2.58

30,000~50,000

2592

23.87

3.02

50,000~100,000

3855

26.11

3.67

9.2.3.5 Switch from private vehicle to public transport

Table 9.3 shows the requested conditions for switch from private vehicle to public transport. 20
km/h is the limit to hold back private vehicle. But on the other hand, the bus speed in most big
cities is also hard to meet the expectation of the respondents. Moreover, the middle and higher
income respondents also hold higher ride comfort request for public transport.
Table 9.16 Request to use public transport service from different income private car users
Yearly income

Lower speed limit of

Lower speed

Higher

Comfort request

()

private vehicle

limit of public

limit of

Not

A little

(km/h)

transport

fare

crowded

crowded

(km/h)

()

Crowded

10,000~30,000

19.36

22.36

3.50

0.60

0.40

30,000~50,000

18.25

24.17

3.62

0.40

0.30

0.30

50,000~100,000

20.32

25.43

4.85

0.50

0.5

>100,000

19.81

23.86

4.32

0.70

0.30

9.2.3.6 Price, preference and social evaluation: which is more important?

Influence factors related with trip decision could be divided into three kinds. First kind is related
with cost, like fare, fuel cost, parking fare, vehicle wear and other kind of direct cost. The second
kind is related with personal evaluation, like time consumed, comfort, personal preference and so
on. The third kind is related with opinions from social members, those are the other social
members opinions on different trip modes.
Table 9.4 and Table 9.5 show the decision weights allocation on private car use and public

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transport for non vehicle owner and vehicle owner respectively. For all the two types of
respondents, the cost weight decrease with income and personal evaluation weight increases to
exceed cost to become the first important factor in decision making. The weight allocation not
differs much between the respondents of non vehicle owner and vehicle owner. The survey also
proves the influence of social members opinion on individual decision making. The weight is
about 20%.
Table 9.17 Decision weight allocation on private vehicle and public transport for respondents
of non vehicle owner
Weight of price factor (%)

Weight of personal opinion (%)

Weight of others opinion (%)

<10,000

45.15

36.42

18.44

10,000~30,000

38.21

41.78

20.01

30,000~50,000

35.97

47.27

16.76

50,000~100,000

33.31

51.86

14.83

Table 9.18 Decision weight allocation on private vehicle and public transport for respondents
of vehicle owner
Weight of price factor (%)

Weight of personal opinion (%)

Weight of others opinion (%)

10,000~30,000

39.32

40.62

20.06

30,000~50,000

40.01

43.93

16.06

50,000~100,000

34.05

48.93

17.02

31.72

52.09

16.19

>100,000

9.2.4 TRUSIT: resident trip decision and urban transport system

interaction
9.2.4.1 Basic modeling idea of multi-agent simulation
Fluctuation and imbalance are the nature of complex system. The interactions among individuals
and environment are the driving force for the system evolution. The status change of individual, in
many cases, comes not from outside, but the result of coupling interaction among the elements in
the system. The non-linear process among individuals makes the macro status of the system
obviously different from simple accumulation of all the independent individual behavior.
Basically, MAS belongs to system simulation method. Different from traditional method like
system dynamics, MAS builds the model from bottom up level. Each individual holds relatively
simple behavior rules. The system is consisted of micro agents interact with each other, and the
macro level change comes as the natural result of micro changes. Agent-based modeling, starting
from relatively clear micro agent interaction, keeping away from unknown complex macro
mechanism, holds stronger description and expression capacity to make the model more close to
the real world. Through interacted micro agent description, MAS helps to explore macro dynamics
of the system from micro level interactions among large amount of agents and get better

214

understanding about the relations between macro phenomena and micro mechanism to better
manage complexity at macro level.

9.2.4.2 Basic principles and assumptions of TRUSIT

Based on general principles of MAS modeling and behavioral science, after an in-depth research
on demand and supply side mechanism of urban public transport, a model of resident trip decision
and urban transport system interaction is developed and named as TRUSIT. This model includes
multi agents of resident (network), public enterprise (network), media (network), government and
urban physical traffic system. The aim of TRUSIT is to reflect the complex structure and evolution
mechanism of urban transport in real and supply scenario support for urban transport policy
design, city planning and transport structure adjustment, capacity enlargement and implementation
result evaluation. To achieve this aim, TRUSIT simulates amounts of heterogeneous trip maker
organized by family, making trip decisions with current information and self preference, public
transport enterprises making supply decision according to the policy, demand and operation
conditions, medias collecting, processing and distributing information, information, attitude and
behavioral interaction among residents and public transport enterprises, real-time feedback from
the traffic system to resident trip and public transport service supply and the policy responses from
the related agents.

Vehicle and traffic service policy

n3

Government

Bus operation policy

Road traffic policy

e3

n2

nn

n4

e1
Public opinion
guidance

Traffic trip
n5

n1

...

Service supply
Traffic system
road

Information

e2

Information

en

nm
Resident network: heterogeneous resident
Real-time information, attitude and
behavioral interaction to decide:
1. purchase vehicle;
2. trip decision (mode, destination).

Traffic information
Residents

Enterprises
Media

information

information

Enterprise network: heterogeneous bus

service company
Real-time information and behavioral
interaction to decide
1. bus service volume and level;
2. bus update.

Figure 9.69 TRUSIT interaction structure

The trip decision of residents and service supply decision of public transport enterprises are
the keys to the model. The multi level and dynamic interaction among agents supply driving force
for the system evolution. Different from aggregate and disaggregate model, the residents trip
decision in TRUSIT is dynamic from interaction: the decision making is multi times from trip
demand on different time point, and the decision situation is dynamic with real-time updated
information like traffic information, trip experience, social evaluation and so on. The traffic based
215

physical interaction, cost based economical interaction and group evaluation based social
interaction together make up of the key forces of individual trip decision dynamics.
With a limited behavioral space, social interaction might cause periodical change in social
behavior. Besides this, considering the traffic capacity limit, individuals budget limit, cost policy
adjustment and market adjustment, the resident trip decision at micro level and urban transport
demand and supply at macro level will both demonstrate evolution characters of complexity and
dynamics. Through introduction of micro agents interaction and relation research on macro
phenomena and micro mechanism, TRUSIT helps to grasp the complex and dynamic characters
and the corresponding inner mechanism, and supply a powerful platform to manage complex
urban public transport system.
The basic assumption of TRUSIT comes from the determination of the micro agent of
resident. With existence of many humanity assumption though, a real person is a mixture of
economic man, social man, self-actualization man and complex man with different
proportion. The resident in TRUSIT is assumed as below:
1. Limited information: the information collected personally is different from the real value,
the difference depends on individuals input and information process ability.
2Social identity need: individual has inner need to obtain social identity, it is an important
part of personal benefit.
3 Bounded rationality: individual pursues satisfaction of personal interest, not
maximization.
The other important assumptions in TRUSIT are listed as below:
Heterogeneous assumption: different residents, enterprises and medias have different
characters and attributes.
Network assumption: micro agents make up of networks according to the social status. The
reference group of different agents has different size and members.
Interaction assumption: agents continuously interact with each other on information, attitude
and behavior.
Status-based interaction assumption: all the interaction among agents is based on status
difference between the participants.
Social benefit trade-off assumption: besides economic benefit, the individual interest also
includes non-economical benefit like time, comfort, self-evaluation, social evaluation and so on.
Probability realization assumption: when probability met, events happen.

9.2.4.3 Micro agent description

The key to multi-agent simulation modeling is to identify agent types and corresponding behavior
rules.
Resident
Number: many hundreds and thousands, adjustable.
Basic characters: with different age, income, occupation, education, reference group, time
216

value, comfort preference, trip experience, traffic information, vehicle tools and so on, organized
by family, with given live place, primary trip destination, initial trip distribution, habit and
decision weight allocation.
Behavior: information interaction, decision making and trip realization.
Information interaction: resident agent exchanges information with other agents (resident,
media and so on) and updates information record according to the source, reliability and difference
with current records. The information in TRUSIT is divided into two kinds: factual information,
like policy, price and operation lines, and evaluation information, like health, social responsibility,
social identity and status. Besides direct information exchange, resident agent could also collect
information through daily observation of other agents trip behavior.
Decision making: resident agent should make decision on destination selection, trip mode
selection and related vehicle tools purchase and so on.
Trip: after decision making on starting point, destination, departure time, mode, an effective
trip demand is created in the traffic system. The system tries to meet the trip demand according to
public transport service and traffic situation, and feedback the time consumed, cost, comfort and
other trip experience in this trip to the resident, and the resident accordingly updates its traffic
evaluation.
Public Transport Company
Number: several, adjustable.
Basic characters: including conventional public transit, metro, light-rail, taxi and other kind
of public transport service, agent has different size, operation line, and condition and service
capacity.
Behavior: adjust capacity, service quality with given operation line and price.
Media
Number: several, adjustable.
Basic character: with different audience, preference and information processing ability.
Behavior: to collect information from government, public transport enterprise, resident and
traffic system according to the preference and supply information to the audience after information
processing.
Government

217

Number: one.
Basic character: static.
Behavior: to issue and implement policy according to given policy timetable. In policy
implementation process, the policy receptor updates the relevant status value according to the
policy content, implementation strength and self situation to realize the effect of policy
implementation.
A complete policy set includes policy receptor, channel, issue time, implementation time,
implementation strength and so on. Currently, the policies that could be simulated in TRUSIT
include:
Public transport policy: service fare, operation lines, emission control, taxation, subsidy,
service quality control and so on.
Private motorized vehicle consumption policy: registration, emission control, parking fee,
fuel price, toll, congestion fee and district traffic control.
Traffic capacity policy: infrastructure construction, management equipment update, road
network adjustment, traffic capacity enlargement.
Physical traffic system
Number: one.
Basic characters: each road has different capacity and pass restriction, road network could be
enlarged and adjusted.
Behavior: to adjust network capacity and pass restriction according to the instruction. Realize
agents trip demand according to the traffic flow and distribution, and return experience
information like time consumed and comfort to the trip agent.

9.2.4.4 Residents trip decision function

The decision making of micro agent is the key of MAS models. Social behavior is always highly
complex with many influence factors. Based on todays social science research, and with current
computation capacity, it is possible to reduce personal decision making behavior to the intuition
level and it is also necessary to understand complex system behavior from this level. An
economically effective model with proper accuracy could be completed through element
sensitivity filtering at later stage.
Residents trip decision is driven by events. The decision covers trip destination, departure
time and trip mode. The resident firstly sets his trip expectation, identifies a satisfactory trip plan
218

from possible trip plans through comprehensive tradeoff and then ends the decision process. The
direct cost, personal evaluation and possible social evaluation together make up of the three key
elements in personal trip decision.
Suppose there are k trip plans for agent i at the trip of No. n at time t the trip plan j
could be expressed like below:

TPi ,nt , j {DTi ,nt , j , TSin,t, j , TM in,t, j }

n, j

n, j

n, j

Where, DTi ,t is the trip destination, TSi ,t is the departure time, TM i ,t is the trip mode.

n, j
n, j
The trip distance estimation of the trip plan j is di ,t time consumed estimation is ti ,t ,
n, j
n, j
direct cost estimation is ci ,t , comfort estimation is: fi ,t , other body and mind experience
n, j
n, j
n, j
estimation is: hi ,t , attitude is: ai ,t , social evaluation is: si ,t , destination benefit estimation is:

vin,t, j . The estimation of trip distance, time consumed, direct cost, comfort and other body and
heart experience could be get from personal trip experience. Destination benefit embodies a
possible selection advantage brought by longer distance trip. To make it simple, the destination
benefit could be set by the system.
Considering mental account and sink cost, the direct cost estimation for a given trip mode is
more than a simple accumulation of each actual cost. Taking private car as an example, besides
direct cost of fuel cost, toll, parking fee, from a rational point, the purchasing cost should be
averaged into each trip. Actually, this effect is rather small for most private vehicle users. On the
contrary, after private car purchasing, the car is experiencing depreciation. Therefore, private car
use could bring some kind of recovery value. Obviously, this benefit descends with time.
Suppose at time t , the private car which agent i consider to use has a used time of tu , the life
time is tl , the cars value at purchasing is v , wear cost for each trip is w , fuel cost is f , toll is g ,
parking fee is p , then the direct cost estimation c of private car use is:

c w f g p fs (v, tu / tl ) fr (v, tu / tl )

Where, fs () is the cost average function, fr () is the value recovery function. Both of them are
decreasing function. There are also some body and heart experience elements of fresh experience
and driving tension related with private car use. Basically, both of those two descend with time.
219

Relatively small average purchasing cost, large value recovery and some kind of fresh experience
together explain the trip dependence at the initial stage of car purchasing.
Based on initial setting, personal attitude evaluation updates with new information added.
The value embodies individuals preference and dependence on different trip modes. It is a longterm accumulation result from trip experience and interaction with reference group members on
information, attitude and behavior. Social evaluation comes from a weighted sum of attitude and
behavior from reference members. The members weight depends on individuals relative status
and social tendency. The value could be figured as below (Hu, 2005):
n, j
n, j
sin,t, j A,i ,t A%
B%
g , i ,t (TM i ,t ) B ,i ,t
g ,i ,t (TM i ,t )

1
N

d
ii 1

ii

f pi ( pii ,t pi ,t )

(
ii 1

A,i , t

Aii ,t (TM in,t, j ) B ,i ,t B

ii ,t (TM in,t, j )) dii ,t f pi ( pii ,t

pi ,t )

Where, dii is the social distance between agent i and his reference member ii

f pi ( pii ,t pi ,t ) is the status difference interaction function, Aii ,t (TM in,t, j ) , Bii ,t (TM in,t, j ) are the

n, j

attitude and behavior for trip mode TM i ,t from reference group member ii .

Suppose the income of agent i at time t is ici ,t , then the normalized personal evaluation on
trip plan j at trip No. n is:

Pi ,nt , j (tin,t, j , fi ,nt , j , hin,t, j , ain,t, j , vin,t, j , icin,t )

Individuals time and comfort value comes from survey data.
Normalized social evaluation is:

Sin,t, j D( sin,t, j )
Accordingly, normalized cost is:

220

Cin,t, j (cin,t, j , icin,t )

According to prospect theory, individual is more interested in the difference from reference
point than the absolute benefit value. Suppose the expectation of personal evaluation of agent i at
n

time t at trip No. n is: Pi ,t , social evaluation expectation is: Si ,t , cost expectation is: Ci ,t . Then
the comprehensive evaluation value of trip plan j is:

TVi ,nt , j (( Pi ,nt , j Pi ,nt ), ( Sin,t, j Sin,t ), (Cin,t, j Cin,t ), ip , is , ic ) , where, ip , is , ic are
decision weight allocation of agent i for personal evaluation, social evaluation and cost. At the
simplest situation, function () could be linear, that is:

TVi ,nt , j ip pv ( Pi ,nt , j Pi ,nt ) is pv( Sin,t, j Sin,t ) ic pv

(Cin,t, j Cin,t )

Where, pv() is the value function, which could take the form of origin concave S shape function
from prospect theory.

Based on bounded rationality assumption, individual often looks for satisfactory solution in
decision making rather than optimized solution. When a utility evaluation of one of the plans
exceeds reference standard set in decision making, the agent finds a satisfactory solution and
accordingly ends decision making. Suppose the comprehensive trip satisfaction degree of agent i
n
n, j
at time t for trip No. n is: SATi ,t . Suppose the selection parameter of trip j is: X i ,t {0,1} .

Starting from first plan, if TVi ,t SATi ,t , then X i ,t 1 , and the agent finds the satisfactory
n, j

n, j

solution j and ends the decision making; otherwise the agent go on with plan j 1 . If all the
plans fail to meet the satisfactory need, then the agent i finds the best plan through all the k
plans.

9.2.4.5 Function of TRUSIT

TRUSIT is a multi agent-based bottom-up urban transport simulation model. Through probe
functions in the model, TRUSIT actually could export any status information of any agent at any
given time, and could also export macro output through naturally micro accumulation: dynamic
time series of traffic supply and demand at any resolution. Basically, the function of the model
could be concluded into three platforms:
1. Observation platform: TRUSIT supplies a platform for urban transport evolution
221

observation, especially for the interaction process and structure among micro agents and trip
modes in public transport market to make the user be familiar with the inner relations among
macro output, micro activity and the adjustment mechanisms.
2. Test platform
Assumption test: test the influence of different behavioral assumptions, scenario assumptions
and parameter assumptions on the traffic system, estimate the effectiveness of different elements
and assumptions
Policy process simulation: simulate the influence at different levels from given policy and
identify possible policy implementation obstacles through process analysis.
3. Design platform
Find corresponding implementation measures for given transport policy strategy through
obstacle analysis.
Find ideal policy portfolio through simulation optimization.

9.2.5 Simulation realization of TRUSIT

9.2.5.1 MAS simulation platform: Swarm
The interaction mechanism of TRUSIT is based on Cellular Automata (CA). Among the MAS
simulation platforms, Swarm developed by SFI has find its distinguished prestige and been widely
used in complex research in related natural and social science fields. Swarm 2.2 for windows is
the newest version. Based on Swarm platform, some simulation models with great influence have
been developed, such as ASM, Sugarspace and so on.

9.2.5.2 Simulation flow of TRUSIT

TRUSIT simulation is developed in Objective-C with Swarm platform. The simulation begins
with system initial setting, and then all the agents continuously interact with each other until the
simulation clock meets the end to close the whole flow. In the simulation, probe programs supply
any real-time status and process data needed to storage or display in graphs. Figure 9.6 shows the
basic simulation flow.
The system setups initial status of all the agents and set the environment in the period of
initial setting. Firstly, the system creates a virtual city with nodes, roads and land-use distribution.
The virtual city could be set up either by GIS input from a given city, or by the system itself
according to the request. Secondly, according to probability distribution, create given number of
heterogeneous families with corresponding family members, age, income, occupation and so on.
The distribution probability could be got from survey and other sources. Thirdly, according to
222

statistics characters, allocate the families into corresponding living communities and assign their
primary trip destination and other trip destination space. Fourthly, after living place and
occupation setting, according to families social stratification, build up the reference group, and
then set family members trip character as the fifth step. At the same time, after virtual city
created, the traffic system should be initialized, including pass permission, capacity for different
trip modes, and then build up public transport service company with given operation lines and
service capacity. Besides these, media and policy timetable should also be initialized in initial
setting period.
After initial setting, the simulation begins. The key of the simulation is the interaction among
different agents. Each agent interacts with other related agents based on given behavior or
evolution rules and updates its status in each simulation step. TRUSIT defines 10 basic
interactions among agents, as it shown in Figure 9.6.

223

TRUSIT simulation setting

City setting
node, road, land-use

Residents setting
family, member, age,
income, occupation

House and trip destination

setting

Reference group setting

social stratification

Traffic system setting

trip mode, capacity

Basic trip setting

vehicle, trip habit,
preference, information

Public transport system

setting
company, lines, service
supply

Media setting
collecting, processing
and distributing

Policy scenario setting

object, mode, time,
value

Agent interaction
Agetn interaction
framework

i5

Resident
N...

Media network

i1

i8

i6
Resident
N3

i2

i2
Traffic system
(physical
i10
operation)

i1

i1

Resident
N2

i2

i2
i4
Bus
company
M1

Resident
N...
Resident
network

Government
related
policies

i4

i3

Bus
company
M...

i9

Enterprise
network

i7

i1Information, attitude and

behavioral interaction among
residents.
i2Individual choose trip mode,
destination, realize trip and update
data.
i3Information and behavioral
interaction among public transport
companies.
i4Supply public transport service,
company get operation information.
i5Residents get information from
media, media collects residents
information.
i6Media collects traffic system
information.
i7Media and company share
information.
i8Media gets policy information.
i9Company gets policy
information.
i10Traffic system adjusts itself
according to the policy information.

Status and process data subtract, output and display

TRUSIT simulation cycle
N
To the given cycle steps
Y
END

Figure 9.70 TRUSIT simulation flow

9.2.6 Simulation example: sharply decrease of bus passenger

volume
Built against a river, virtual city S has very low private vehicle ownership. 70% of residents trip
comes from non-motorized modes, in which bus shares 30% with a 70% from monthly ticker user.
The rail transport is very small. In the simulation period, the city S will experience a large-scale

224

industrial adjustment: factory moves out of the city center and lots of employment turns into unemployment. After a continuous bus fare adjustment, the city government cancels monthly ticket
at last and at the same time supplies a relatively high subsidy for the monthly ticket users. A
simulation of bus passenger volume in virtual city S in 7 simulation years through TRUSIT is
presented here.
Environment:
Figure 9.7 shows the map and the traffic system of virtual city S created by TRUSIT. Taking
the date as the unit, the simulation is 2500 steps long (7 simulation years).

Figure 9.71 Virtual city S

Basic settings:
Population: 2% of annual growth rate of resident population.
Income: disposable annual income per capita at the beginning of the simulation is: 2000,
and at the end of the simulation:8000.
Economical background: with industrial adjustment, 20% of employment turns into
unemployment; a severe inflation with a price index of 250 at the end of the simulation.
Bus ownership: at the beginning of the simulation: 4 buses/10,000 residents; at the end of
the simulation: 8 buses/10,000 residents.
Monthly bus ticket possession ratio (/resident population): at the beginning of the
simulation: 16%; at the end of the 6th simulation year: 14%.
Bus fare adjustment: see Table 9.6.
Table 9.19 Bus fare adjustment setting of City S in the simulation period
Y
ear 1
Average
fare()
Monthly

Y
ear 2

0
.2

ear 3
0

.2
1

Y
ear 4
0
.2

Y
ear 5

0
.35

225

Year 7

0.69

No more monthly

ear 6
0

.67
2

.68
2

ticket()

ticket15

Taxi ownership: at the beginning of the simulation: 8.5 taxies/10,000 residents; at the end
of the simulation: 25 taxies/10,000 residents.
Rail transport: small, neglected.
Private vehicle: ownership lower than 1.
Non-motorized vehicle: rapid development of bicycle and fueled-bicycle.
Simulation result:
The daily bus passenger volume of City S in the simulation is shown in Figure 9.8. In the 7th
year, after the monthly bus ticket call-off, the bus passenger volume sharply reduced by about
40%. Comparing Figure 9.2 and Figure 9.8, the simulation on the whole reflects the characters of
bus passenger volume of Shanghai in the middle of 1990s.

Figure 9.72 Daily bus passenger volume of City S

Thoughts about the simulation:
The bus passenger volume in the simulation does not change much in the first 6 simulation
years even with a 250% of rise of bus fare, but sharply decrease by 40% in the 7th simulation year.
Though monthly bus ticket is canceled in the 7the year, the subsidy from the government could
cover the trip cost rise caused by the monthly ticket call-off. How to explain these?
Through an analysis on simulation data, several thoughts got as below:
1. 70% of bus trip volume from monthly ticket user, rise of bus fare will not directly
influence their use;
2. Inflation weakens the influence of price adjustment of bus fare and monthly ticket, but the

15

Call off monthly ticket, subsidy of 16 per month supplied.

226

advantage of bus trip gradually comes down.

3. Group influence will still sustain the members behavior in a short period, but the power
comes down with the decrease of bus trip advantages.
4. The industrial adjustment greatly impacts the groups stability, former trip norm collapses
and new norm comes into being.
5. Mental accounting and pressure of re-employment greatly weakens the compensation
effect of subsidy from the government for monthly ticket call-off.
6. Rapid development of bicycle and diesel-fueled-bicycle gradually supply an effective
substitution for bus trip.

9.3 Supply-side incentive mechanism

9.3.1 Urban public transportation supply
9.3.1.1 Suppliers
Government institutions and public transportation enterprises are two main suppliers of urban
public transportation. Enterprises are direct service providers as well as economic organizations of
urban public transportation. In terms of property structure, China's urban public transportation
enterprises include state-owned enterprises, private-owned enterprises, equity joint venture and
contractual joint venture enterprises. But in terms of scale, public transportation industry in a city
is usually dominated by one or several state-owned enterprises. For example, Beijing Public
Transportation Holding Group Co., Ltd is the largest state-owned company in Beijing with 17,695
buses at the end of 2005, accounting for 95.6% of total buses in six public transportation
enterprises.
Providing public services is a function of the government. In China, the administration
management systems are usually divided into five layers. The functions of different layers of
government institutions to provide public services are different. For research convenience, we
introduce it as a three sort: central government, regional government and urban government.
Among them, the urban government includes the municipalities and cities government institutions
at prefecture level and county level. The demand of public services is very different with respect
to quantity, structure and preference, and needs to be satisfied according to the real circumstances.
Therefore, its recognized that public transport service will be more efficient if provided by urban
government. In the mean time, the regional government includes government institutions at the
provincial and autonomous level, who exercising jurisdiction across several cities. With the fast
social and economic development, city cooperation is expanding and deepening gradually. Hence,
regional government also needs to perform an important function and the benefits of public
transportation also need to be shared among adjacent cities correspondingly. Many plans of
227

building inter-city public transportation infrastructures have been designed and prepared.
After adopting a fiscally decentralization system, public transportation financial functions
and administering functions have been mostly arranged to the governments at regional level and
urban level. Budget that the central government allocated is relatively small. In 2006, the central
investment in the public transportation industry only accounted for 1.22% of the total investment
(China Statistical Yearbook of Fixed Assets Investment 2007). But, due to the absence of technical
professions at the layers of regional government and urban government, a lot of experts are still
inclined to support concentrating the planning and strategic development at the central
government level (GTZ, 2007). Therefore, the government institutions on the supply side
comprise not only urban government, but also regional government and the central government.

9.3.1.2 Incentive mechanisms on the supply side

With respect to the two main suppliersgovernment institutions and enterprisesthere are three
levels of incentive mechanisms, including incentive mechanisms within the government
institutions, between the government institutions and enterprises and within enterprises (Figure
9.9).

228

Figure 9.73 Supply-side incentive mechanism system of urban public

transportation
(1) Incentive mechanism within enterprises
Most of the public transportation enterprises in China are state-owned enterprises. The
transformation of incentive mechanisms is in line with the reform of firm property rights. At the
early stage of reform, like other municipal utilities, enterprises are all owned by the government
and entirely managed by the government. The government developed public transportation
through administrative command, acting both as policy-makers and direct operators. In 1993, the
Ministry of Construction released the Notice on Implementation Measures of Operational
Mechanisms Transformation of Public Transportation Enterprises Owned by the Whole People. It
identified eight management decision rights, clarified the relationship between the administrative
department and enterprises and required the enterprises operating by law rather than by command.
Since 1999, a series of reforms carried on in succession towards property reorganization and

229

construction of modern business system. In 2000, the government focused on the reform of
establishing and improving market access for multiple operators. And in 2003, the establishment
of State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission promoted the inner
governance of the state-owned enterprises. The efficiency of public transport enterprises gradually
improved.
In the last few years, the bus amount increased continuously from 172,000 in 1999 to
275,000 in 2005. The amount of passenger transportation also increased from 29,900,000,000 in
1999 to 44,000,000,000 in 2005 (Statistical Year Book of China 2000-2006). Around the year of
2005, many cities re- measured the usage of public transportation, and started a new round of
resources integration. For example, the Dalian City integrated the four state-owned enterprises,
and established a limited company of Dalian Urban Passenger Transportation in 2006. Shanghai
City also drew up reorganization programming and attends to realize each district has a single
major enterprise.
(2) Incentive mechanism between government and enterprises
Government's incentive measures can subdivide into two levels. One is to promote
sustainable development of various modes of public transportation, and the other is to encourage
the coordination and integration of different modes. Subsidies and incentive regulation are the
two measures frequently taken by the government. There are two kinds of subsidies in China,
which have been called political subsidies and political compensations. The political subsidies are
appropriated to maintain lower ticket prices and to offset higher fuel prices and the completion of
governments temporary requirements. The political compensations are used to compensate the
loss of providing favorable service to the old and disable people, etc. Except that, government also
introduced some new kinds of incentive regulation measures, such as Financing Bidding
Regulation. In 2002, Chengdu Municipal Bureau auctioned off the franchise rights for 6 bus lines.
In 2006, the first Public-Private Partnership contract on the No.4 rail line was subscribed by the
Beijing Transportation Bureau and Beijing MTR Corporation. There is some contents in the Issues
on Urban Public Transportation Development Priority to advice developing bus transportation
preferentially, developing rail transportation gradually and developing large capacity public
transportation system moderately.
(3) Incentive mechanism within government
Enterprises are the direct provider of public transportation and, to a large extent, are under the
influence of the economic system as well as political system. The focus point of incentive
mechanism has been transferred gradually from business level to government level. After the
release of Issues on Urban Public Transportation Development Priority, the understanding of
public transportation has been pressingly raised. The subsequent draft of Issues on Economic
Policy of Urban Public Transportation Development Priority and Urban Public Transportation
Regulation has defined the responsibility of the local government more clearly.

230

9.3.1.3 Key problems in the process of urbanization

The incentive mechanisms within enterprises and between government and enterprises have been
pushed forward continuously with the development of our economic systems. The beginning of
21st century has been a quick exploring period. During this period, urban public transportation
enterprises in China have experienced the changes of regulation. The efficiency has quickly
enhanced. But the development level of urban public transportation is not fully optimistic yet (see
Figure 9.10).

Bus volume per 10,000 person

20
Beijing

18
16
14

Guangzhou

Shanghai

12.5

12
10

Xian

8
6

Haerbin
Chengdu
Tianjin
Shijiazhuang
Wuhan

10
Chongqing

4
2
0
0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

P o p u l a t i o n 1 0 , 0 0 0

Source: China Statistical Yearbook (2006), China Urban Statistical Yearbook (2006)
Notes: According to the Code for Transport Planning on Urban Road (GB50220 95), every 800-1000 person
should be arranged a bus in large scale city, every 1200-1500 person should be arranged a bus in middle scale or
small scale cities and bus volume of a large scale city should amount to 10-12.5 per million people.

Figure 9.74 Bus volumes per 10,000 people of ten cities (2005)
Concerning the relaxing of regulation, efficiency is not very sound due to lack of
corresponding professional knowledge and long-term experience accumulation. For example, in
the implementation of Competitive Tendering, urban governments often prefer an enterprise that
can provide the lowest price. But, the service quality of the enterprise is quite hard to measure,
especially when the market lacks price elasticity. The winner is likely to lower the service quality
to fulfill the promise to government (Miao, etc., 2004).See from international experiences, the
policy instruments that emphasize relaxing regulations often let local government down (SERA,
2007; ICLEI, 2003).Therefore, many nations start asking for the return of government.
Box 9.1 Public transportation in Beijing
In June 1998, Beijing public transportation industry carried out a large-scale re-organization. In

231

January 2001, Beijing BASHI CO., LTD (600386) was listed on the stock market, collecting
773,000,000 RMB. By the end of 2005, Beijing City had 6 public transportation enterprises,
18503 buses, 593 circuits and 1 rail transportation operation. After a period, Beijing BASHI CO.,
LTDs business results indicated a deficit amounting to 130,000,000 RMB in 2005. Bashi s deficit
extended to 350,000,000 RMB on Sep. 30th in 2006, and the stock price also fell to 2 RMB in the
first half of 2006.
In 2006, the Beijing municipal government decided to implement property displacement
mechanisms and let public passenger transportation return to public businesses. Under the
leadership of the State Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, Beijing started
integrating transportation resources, and then BASHI withdraw from the urban passenger
transportation business. In 2006, Beijing Municipal Transportation Commission, Municipal
Development and Reform Commission, Municipal Planning Commission, Municipal Financial
Bureau and Municipal Public Security Bureau jointly launched Issues on Priority Development of
Public Transportation. According to the document, the government will deploy priority policies to
the public transportation facilities, define the investment arrangement, and provide the road right
allocation and finance support. Since January 1st in 2007, Beijing unified the bus ticket price to a
lower level, and gave favorable four fold discounts to common card consumers and two fold
discounts to students. The rate of public transportation traveling shares increased to 34.5 by
October 2007, higher than 28.1% in 2005.
Sources:
1. Huang Yuying. The public finance devoted out to public transportation [N].Beijing Daily
Nespaper, 2007-01-03;
2. Meng Wei. Beijing BASHI returned to public business after property displacement [N]. Beijing
Daily Nespaper, 2006-12-26;
3. Ye Jianguo, Zhang Biao.Peking 10,000,000,000 RMB to Public transportation as subsidy,
market reform announced to game over [N]. 21 Century Economic Reports, 2007-01-09;
4. China Communications and Transportation Association. Yearbook of China Transportation &
Communications [M]. Year Book House of China Transportation & Communications, 2001-2003
The key problem of urban public transportation supply is the lack of incentive mechanisms
within government. Restructuring of the governments role and the role of the public
transportation institution system has been a concern (Chen, 2007; World Bank, 2006).

9.3.2 Government incentive and public transport priority

9.3.2.1 Government behavior
Public transportation priority is a kind of institutional arrangement. Whether this arrangement can
be taken into effect or not depends on the willingness and capability of the institutional supplier.
The three layers of governments are all suppliers. The idea of public transportation priority
requires high performance and quality of public services. It is requested that government be not
only the service provider, but also the guider of demand transition from private transit to public
transit. And the realization of public transportation priority can't completely depend on market-

232

based mechanisms. Analyzing the governments behavior, it is obviously that there lacks of
enthusiasms to develop public transportation at the regional and urban government for a long time.
Therefore, the willingness and capacity of regional and urban governments should be strengthened
and it needs to regard the government as bounded rational agent. During Chinas ten years of
reform, the economic system has experienced great transformation, and at the same time, the
political system has also undergone change from centralization to decentralization. Financial
decentralization stirred up regional and urban governments inspiration to develop the economy,
and the performance evaluation system linking with economic development then ensures the
continuous willingness of government. The regional and urban government was subjected to the
economy construction and took less concern on public service. Essential elements such as land
and capital had flowed into the industry sectors, which inevitably resulted in the squeezing of
public transportation resources.
From a more broad view of the systems environment, Chinas urban public transport
enterprises experienced reform of operational right, ownership right and market structure. This
changed the pattern of benefit distribution for the public transportation sector. The original
monopoly operation system was transferred. Therefore, a new system and circumstance must now
be built. But the existing mechanism for resource allocation makes against the quick development
of public transportation. The government hasn't yet helped public transit enterprises to gain real
access to resource and the market. China's direct investment on public transport stations, transfer
hub construction, rail transportation infrastructure and other public transport infrastructure are
relative small (Table 9.7).
Table 9.20 Investment in Public Transportation Fixed Assets of Construction in Urban Area
(Billion RMB)

Year

Total

Transportation, Storage
and Postal Industry

Urban
Transportation

Public

Investment

Cumulatively

Investment

Cumulatively

Investment

Cumulatively

under

finished

under

finished

under

finished

planning

investment

planning

investment

planning

investment

2006

24692.0

13892.8

3654.0

1784.5

424.6

148.6

2005

18961.8

10754.4

2782.4

1463.2

320.4

113.4

2004

14703.9

8428.9

2245.4

1228.1

299.5

106.8

Source: China Statistical Yearbook of Fixed Assets Investment 2005-2007

9.3.2.2 Government responsibility

The international Association of Public Transport (UITP) has always appealed governments to
take the initiative on public transportation priority.
The main responsibility of government includes:
(1) Strengthening the exterior connection with other kinds of transportation;
(2) Promoting the integration of each modes of public transportation; and

233

(3) Guaranteeing the sustainable development of the public transportation industry.

9.3.2.3 Model
The comfort, prompt and convenience of public transportation can be achieved through:
(1) Enterprises efforts to increase vehicle and operational line, etc
(2) Governments efforts to provide more infrastructures and promote the integration of
various public transportation modes.
In most previous research, more attention had been paid to solving the problem of principleagent incentive mechanisms and finding an optimal incentive mechanism between government
and enterprises under information asymmetry (Li, 2004; Fabbri, 1996), taking government as the
principle and enterprise as the agent. In this part, we built a model to comprehend the agent
behavior of government and enterprises at the same time.
According to the theory of principle-agent, the model studies information asymmetry that
already took place before contractingex ante is called adverse choices model and the model
that studies information asymmetry took place after contracting ex post is called the moral
hazard model (Zhang, 1996). When one-side principle can't know clearly the cost and benefit that
contract can bring is called single moral hazard, and its decision behavior usually can't be
observed and verified. Though single moral hazard is more widespread, under some
circumstances, not only agents effort but also principles effort cant be observed by each other,
thus double moral hazard problem appeared at this time.
The main assumptions are:
Assumption 1: Urban government and enterprises all play an important role in public
transportation.
Assumption 2: Urban governments objective is to maximization its welfare in line with the
cost-benefit principle.
See from residents questionnaires (in section of 9.2), the residents choose private
transportation for two reasons: comfort and promptness. And the most two most negative aspects
of public transportation are: congestion and lower speed. Therefore, we assumed that the input of
government was to raise the comfort and promptness of public transportation.
Assumption 3: An enterprises objective is to maximize its welfare also in line with the costbenefit principle.
Assumption 4: The efficiency of government and enterprise depends on the level of
competition between private transportation and public transportation. If the amount of private
vehicles is larger, and private vehicles compete for limited road and infrastructure resources with
public vehicles, then the relative efficiency rate is relative lowered.
Assumption 5: Urban government will need to pay for its efforts, and the cost depends on the
willingness and ability of government to pay. We express this with a preference coefficient in the
consumer welfare function. The preference coefficient indicates the level of influence from the
governments decision.
There is a bus enterprise in a city, where government and enterprise are risk neutral.
Performance X is a parameter to stand for public transportation performance. General travelers
are mainly influenced by public transportation service level S . Service level S is a token
parameter of public transportation comfort, speed and promptness, which is subjected to the input

234

of government sG and enterprise sF in the meantime and includes the direct input to
infrastructure and non- direct input to road right arrangement, etc.

S h( sG , sF ) sG sF
h( sG , sF ) is the function of government effort and enterprise effort, and is mainly
influenced by the competition of private transportation. and are the efficiency ratios of
government and enterprise separately. When the private transportation is more efficient than
public transportation, then the efficiency rate of public transport is relatively lower.
h : R*2 R , continuous, differential, if the partial differential is expressed with subscript,
have hG ( sG , sF ) 0 hF ( sG , sF ) 0 . It means that the efforts of government and enterprises
are all have significant influences to increase public transportation demand. is an extra random
variable, and is verifiable to government and enterprise. E ( ) 0 .
The total benefit V ( X ) (aggregation of external benefit and internal benefit) is related with
the performance X as well as social benefit coefficient ( 1) of public transportation
passenger volume which reflects the recognition of public transportation.
Let X E (S ) , namely the Performance is the expectation of Service level, then:
V ( X ) X E (S )
The non-direct money given by the government and business enterprises is a non-verifiable
parameter to model. Therefore, the direct service level should not be the transfer payment between
government and enterprise. And the efforts of both governments and enterprises is assumed to be
very limited and costly, so we assumed that the cost function can be expressed as an increasing
convex function C sG and C sF . The cost of government is C ( s G ) sG2 / 2 , the cost of the
business enterprise is: C ( sF ) sF2 / 2 , which satisfy CG sG 0 , and C F sF 0 . is the
token coefficient of willingness and capability of regional governments effort. If the willingness
and capability is smaller and barrier is greater, the coefficient is higher.
The utility function U F is constructed by the welfare function of the enterprise. It is
influenced by three aspect factors: one is operation income (passenger number and ticket price);
two is governmental public financial subsidies YG ; three is the cost (including oil price, the
vehicle renewal cost and land use cost of facilities etc).

U F P ( X ) C ( sF ) wE (sG sF ) YG sF2 / 2
P ( X ) wE (sG sF ) YG is the transfer payment between government and
enterprise, and

w is the transfer coefficient.

0w

The utility function of regional government U G is expressed with consumer welfare. It is

235

the exterior benefit related with passenger number minus of the effort cost of regional government.

U G V ( X ) P ( X ) C ( sG )
Scenario analysis
To describe the government intervention behavior, three scenarios are designed:
Scenario 1: Enterprise incentive scenario
The development of public transportation solely depends on the effort of the enterprise. And
the government has no virtual input. At this time, sG 0 , the problem is:

max

U F wE ( sF ) YG sF2 / 2

The enterprises optimal effort is:

sF 1 w
The urban performance of public transportation is:

X 1 w 2
Scenario 2: Government Input Scenario
It is considered that government motivates enterprises indirectly as well as takes direct efforts
by itself to develop public transportation. But there exists a dynamic between government and
enterprise due to the distrust with each other. Unwanted cost derived from double moral hazard
exists. The optimization problem is as follows:
Step one: the enterprise chooses its effort s F to optimize its utility objective under certain
conditions:

max

U F wE (sG s F ) YG s F2 / 2

Step two: the government chooses its effort sG to optimize its utility objective under certain
conditions:

max

U F ( w) E (sG s F ) YG s G2 / 2

The enterprises optimal effort is:

s F 2 w
The governments optimal effort is:
s G 2 ( w)

At this time the total performance of urban public transportation is:

X 2 ( w) 2 w 2
Scenario 3: Institutional arrangement scenario
Government's efforts to support public transportation are not the result of games with
enterprise but have become a long-term institutional arrangement. At this time, the government
236

and enterprise trust each other and corporately maximize the social welfare function as their
mutual objective.

max I V ( X ) C s G C s F
E (sG s F ) sG2 / 2 s F2 / 2
The enterprises optimal effort is:
s F 3

The governments optimal effort is:

sG 3

At this time the total performance of urban public transportation is:

X 3 2 2
Conclusions:
(1) Under the first and second scenarios, the efforts of enterprises depend on the transfer
coefficient between government and enterprise w and the efficiency of enterprise . It is thus
clear that increasing the transfer payment from government to enterprise is helpful to increase
enterprises efforts. Meanwhile, providing priority policy to public transportation and improving
the efficiency of enterprise is also helpful.
(2) Under the second scenario, the governments efforts depend on the social benefit
coefficient related to passenger volume, the transfer coefficient between government and
enterprise w and the efficiency of government . It is thus clear that more social emphasis
results in more support from the government. And limitation policy for private transportation and
improving of government efficiency is also advantageous to public transportation.
(3) Comparing the first scenario with the second scenario, the formers performance is lower
than that of the latter. It is presumed that if the urban public transportation wanted to achieve a
higher target level, it is better not to depend on the efforts of enterprise solely. The government
should provide partial public transportation service directly, and find a trade-off between the two
kinds of input (indirect and direct).
(4) Comparing the three kinds of scenarios, performance of the third scenario attain higher
results than the other two. It is concluded that if the efforts that government put into public
transportation is only temporary, there exists a dynamic of trust and mistrust between government
and enterprise. The performance of public transportation cant achieve a best solution but a
second best solution and the two parties will need to pay a higher double moral hazard cost.
(5) If the public transportation performance wanted to maintain a longer period of high
performance, there needs to be a relative stable institutional system in place for public financial
investment and service input. Institutionalization is helpful to maximize social welfare.

237

9.3.3 The framework of incentive mechanisms

9.3.3.1 International experience
To implement public transportation priority, there needs to be an enhanced public service function
of government to optimize the quality and the efficiency of government. Some international
operational experiences have certain value as reference.
Pattern 1:
The central government pays attention to lawmaking and drives regional government to
regular by law. Before the 1990's, public transportation was regarded as a transportation problem
solely. But after the 1990's, a lot of countries change their understanding of public transportation.
The concept of public transportation was emphasized gradually. Some countries, such as United
State, England and France have taken public transportation lawmaking to the country level. For
example, the US government has passed the Urban Mass Transportation Act in 1964, Urban Mass
Transportation Act in 1970, and Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act in 1991 and so
on.
Pattern 2:
The central government provides a framework agreement to promote the voluntary
cooperation between the local government and enterprise. In 1998, the British government drew
up Transportation Development Strategy 2000-2010: Ten Years Transportation Programming,
suggesting the establishment of QBP (Quality Bus Partnerships) between local government and
public transportation enterprises (Wall& McDonald, 2007).The QBP is the formal or informal
agreement arrived between government and enterprise (TAS, 1997), which combines the local
government and enterprise working together under a cooperative agreement. In 2001, there were
already 380 QBP agreements in England. According to the survey carried out to 134 QBP
cooperation agreements by TAS (2001), 72% of them had improving the public transportation
utilization rate. Wall& McDonald (2007) implemented a detailed investigation and analysis to
QBP in the Winchester region. The conclusion is that the QBP operation lines passenger volume
and satisfaction degree was raised by 8%. The QBP cooperation is deepened gradullay. In 2000,
the government again put forth a proposal concerning the Transport Act 2000th to settle down the
QBP as a kind of long-term ordinance.

9.3.3.2 Progress
(1) The institutional arrangement of the central government
Great progress has been made at the central government level. The idea of public
transportation has been initiated to the central decision level and brought into the nations Energy
Conservation Law.

238

Table 9.21 Related policies on inspiriting government

T Policy document

Organization

Main contents

Progress

ime
2

Issues
on
implementing
000
national "Expedite Engineering" of
urban
road
transportation
management
2
National scheme of urban road
001
transportation management in 2001
2
005
2
005

Issues on public transportation

development priority
The measures of urban public
passenger
transportation
management

Issues on some economic

006
policies regarding urban public
transportation priority
2
Urban public transportation
007
regulation(drafted plan)
2
Energy Conservation Law
007

MOC,MOP
S

MOC,MOP
S
MOC,NDR
C,MOST,MOPS,
MOF,MOLR
MOC

MOC,NDR
C,MOF,MOLSS
NC
SCNPC

Evaluation of the road transportation management from

urban level;

Clarifying the implementation areas including municipal

cities, capitals of province and autonomous region, cities specifically
designated in the state plan and so on.
The urban government should draw up public transportation
programming scientifically, guarantee the implementation of the
program, and strengthen the management.
The construction departments at province and autonomous
region level and municipal, city and city at county level
governments are responsible for the management of cities under
their administration separately.
The government should insist on investing in urban public
transportation. Regional government should enlarge the funds of
the public transportation.
Further confirming urban public transportation is public
utilities.
The governments above the country level should develop
public transportation priority, enlarge public transportation
investment and perfect public transportation service system.

239

Implem
ented

Implem
ented
Implem
ented
Implem
ented

Implem
ented
Penden
t
Implem
ented

2
008

The sixth reform scheme of

administration management system

NPC

Setting up MOCT. Original function regarding urban

passenger transportation of MOC integrating into the new
department.

Implem
ented

MOC: Ministry of Construction; NDRC: National Development and Reform Commission; MOST: Ministry of Science and Technology; MOPS: Ministry of Public Security; MOLR: Ministry of
Land and Resources; MOF: Ministry of Finance; MOLSS: Ministry of Labor and Social Security SC: State Council; SCNPC Standing Committee of National People's Congress; NPC:
National People's Congress; MOCT: Ministry of Communication and Transportation.

240

(2) Policy feedback of urban government

Under the guidance of the central government, urban public transportation in China has
demonstrated innovation leaded by regional and urban government. According to rough statistical
data, the public transportation priority strategies have been put forward in the large and middle
cities in China with varying degrees of effectiveness. Unlike other public enterprises such as
communication and civil aviation, the public transportation has its own feature. Therefore, the
measures taken in different cities all have special features.
Beijing
Policy documents: Issues on Prior Developing Public Transportation, Transportation
Programming during the 11th five-year planning in Beijing
Performance targets: Public transportation share accounts more than 40 percent in center
areas during the 11th five-year
Main tasks:
a) Optimization of lines; b) Speeding up the construction of stations; c) Strengthening road
right priority; d) Adjustment to unify the ticket system and ticket price; e) Strengthening
supervision;
Special arrangements:
a) Since January 1st in 2007, Beijing has unified its public transportation ticket prices to a
lower level. For the passenger who travel by any of the 447 bus lines, there will be the 40%
discount from use of the common card, and 20% discount from the use of a student card.; b) With
regard to the investment priority, the investment on public transportation has been enlarged.
During the 11th five-year plan, the investment on public transportation in Beijing reached 71.5
billion RMB, accounting for 45 percent of the total whole investment in transportation
infrastructure. The investment increased by 18 percent or 47.7 billion RMB of the amount of the
10th five-year plan. According to the characteristics of Beijing urban planning, investment on rail
transportation construction has been enlarged.
Shanghai
Policy documents: The three-year action plan on prior developing city public transportation
from 2007 to 2009
Performance target: By the year of 2010, public transportation passenger volume will
account for 65 percent of the whole vehicles traveling amount, and will account for 33 percent of
all transportation modes..

241

Main tasks:
a) Speeding up the constructions of public transportation infrastructure; b) Concretely
regulating market behaviors of public transportation; c) Strongly enhancing the public
transportation management and service level ;d) Further consummating supporting policy of
public transportation development;
Special arrangements:
a) Drawing up the integration reorganization programming. In 2009, the reorganization of
area public companies will basically be finished and realize one district has only one major
enterprise.; b) Regulating market behaviors of public transportation companies concretely. In
2007, the evaluation system of public transportation enterprises was established. In 2008, related
assessment will be implemented in order to strengthen the supervision of the public transportation
companies; c) Constructing long-term mechanism to improve public transportation. Based on the
special subsidy of public transportation, the long term supporting mechanism of subsidy or
purchase by the government will be established.
Dalian, Liaoning province
Policy documents: Opinions on Developing Public Transportation Priority in Dalian,
Special Programming of Urban Public Transportation in Dalian, Development Programming of
Urban Bus Rapid Transportation in Dalian
Performance target: According to the programming of the government, Dalian will take the
rail transport as the backbone and city public transportation as the main body, integrating with
other means of transportation.
Main tasks:
a) Continuously enlarging investment of infrastructure construction; b) Actively and steadily
promoting the reform; c) Sound system construction;
Special arrangements:
a) Having established special leading group of prior development of city public
transportation, along with putting forward the concrete measures and target regarding prior
development of city public transportation; b) Having planned 10 special road for public
transportation; c) Having integrated the 4 state owned public transportation enterprises to establish
Dalian Urban Passenger Transportation Group; d) Putting great efforts on the construction of
special road and station facilities recently. Enlarge the investment on public station facilities
construction.
Xinxiang, Henan province
242

Policy documents: Opinions on Prior Developing City Public Transportation in Xinxiang

City, Scheme of Implementing State Department Document [2005] 46 regarding Development of
City Public Transportation, Public Transportation Development Programming during the 11th
five-year planning in Xinxiang City, Special Programming of Public Transportation from 2006 to
2020 in Xinxiang City, Methods of Implementing Subsidy Policy of City Public Transportation
Performance target: By 2010, public transportation will basically be the main means of the
city transportation. The city public transportation will account for 20 percent of the transportation
modes utilized by the people. The city public transportation framework will be basically formed,
which mainly depends on buses and is complemented by taxies.
Main tasks:
a) Speeding up the emending and editing of city public transportation programming; b)
Perfecting public transportation infrastructure step by step; c) Building up normal cost and
expenses of the evaluation system, policy subsidy evaluation system and compensation
mechanism; d)Optimizing the transportation net structure aggressively, and developing in suburb
village, and designing and settling special road for public transportation; e) Enlarging R&D
investment as well as actively promoting the development of intelligent public transportation
systems; f) Bringing the Scheme into government objective management, building up incentive
and evaluation system, and carrying out periodic evaluation, investigation and direction.
Special arrangements:
The Xinxiang city has a public transportation system depending mainly upon buses, along
with taxies as complementary. Such a system is representative around many big and middle cities
in China. The Xinxiang city has put forward Methods of Implementing Subsidy Policy of City
Public Transportation, which prescribes the policy subsidy amount as well as the subsidy projects.

9.3.3.3 Path choice to improve public transportation supply

Urban public transportation supply requires not only the input of capital, technology, labor and
information, but also the input of mechanisms and systems. Various institutional arrangements and
mechanism design can influence the input of these main factors and their input-output efficiency.
Public transportation relates with three kinds of stakeholders: government, enterprise and the
residents. The construction of public transportation incentive mechanism on the supply side should
integrate all of the parties by strengthening and coupling the different objectives between them to
achieve higher performance of public transportation. Five steps are outlined below to fulfill this
process:
(1) Identifying the function of regional government and strengthening the willingness of the
regional governments to provides public transportation service;
The goals are to: (1) strengthen the consciousness of local government and build up regulation
243

system in line with the transformation of administrative system to public service oriented
government, and (2) combine public transportation priority into a long term institutional
arrangement, including planning management system and financial budgeting system. The
institution of public transportation priority should be coupled with the conventional system. There
needs to be a linkage between the performance evaluation of the local government and the
evaluation of public transportation, push forward the administration accountability and perfect the
superior system. Finally, there need to be mechanisms in place to strengthen the implementation
guarantee of the vertical system, in order to promote the institutional diffusion on the horizontal
level through yardstick competition.
(2) Optimizing the organizational arrangement of regional and urban government, deepening
the reform of public financial system and strengthening the capability of regional government to
provide public transportation service;
(3) Strengthening the support from central government at the macro level;
There are still no special law has been developed for public transportation. The central
government should strengthen the lawmaking of public transportation, further perfect an urban
public transportation technique standard system and regulate the urban government behavior by
law. And, there should remain a push forward for government performance evaluation and
administrative accountability to perfect the superior system of public transportation service
system.
(4) Based on the experience of market reform, fully inspiring the enterprises on achieving
win-win;
Our public transportation industry has experienced a period of market reform. The
government organization should introduce the market mechanism accurately and appropriate
social resources to raise the ability of providing adequate public services.
(5) Valuing the residents' evaluation;
Strengthen the input from residents, media and NPA and promote the service level
comprehensively.

9.4 Policies and their influence

Basically, policy is an interest readjustment among involved groups. Table 9.9 shows the possible
policies and measures related to public transportation, and their potential influences on resident,
enterprise and government. Due to complex circumstance of different cities and different interests
between public transportation stakeholders (government, enterprise and resident), we presented
here an objective influence description (far from complete) of each measure from these
stakeholders' perspectives, and enumerated their pros as well as cons. The purpose here is not to
244

conclude but to evoke some deep thinking about the actual influence on the society for any given
policy.
Table 9.9 Policies and their influence

Policy

Measures

Policy influence
Resident

Law
guarantee

Legislation

Enterprise

Government

All residents:

Be helpful to

Will face the

strengthen public

guarantee the activity

technical problem and

transport

of enterprise and

equilibrium problem ;

improvement

market stability;

expectation;
uncertainty of
private vehicle
consumption
increase;

Organization
Guarantee

All residents:

Avoid waste from

Raise the knowledge

specialized public

strengthen public

bureaucratic

and information

transportation

transport

management;

transparence between

Build

up

organization

to

moderate

and

improvement

government and

expectation;

enterprise, and be

inspect

advantageous to the
establishment of a longterm and stable policy;
Need to pay more
public financial
expenditure;

Investment
arrangement

Enlarge the source

All residents:

Be helpful to

Need to pay more

of expanding and

strengthen public

business continuous

cost;

introduce

transport

operation;

The possible

capital

access

improvement

opportunity cost may

expectation;

become important
obstacle;

Policy

Give subsidies to

subsidies

incremental

cost

from fuel price

Be helpful to

Need to pay more

rider: improve

maintain its

cost;

public transport

operational activity;

But can maintain

Public transport

service

social stability to some

expectation;

extent;

Other trip maker:

influence
evaluation on
governments
equity;

245

Policy
compensation

Favorable

price

for older people

Old public transport

Be helpful to

Need to pay more

rider: reduce trip

maintain its

cost;

cost;

operational activity;

But can distribute

Other rider:

social welfare to some

comfort

extent;

decreases;
All trip maker:
traffic load and
speed;
All residents:
orientation of old
people in family and
society;
Favorable

price

for student

Student rider:

Be helpful to

Need to pay more

reduce trip cost;

maintain its

cost;

All trip maker:

operational activity;

But can distribute

traffic load

social welfare to some

redistribution;

extent;
May be resisted by
related school bus
operational system;

Ticket price
reform

Ticket discount

Raise the price

Increase

rider: reduce trip

competitive ability of

government's public

cost; user of high

the bus and improve

financial expenditure;

quality and prime

bus share rate;

price lines

If can't acquire a

increase, comfort

reasonable government

decrease;

subsidy, will aggravate

Public transport

All trip maker:

the business cost

influence traffic

burden;

load and speed;

more trip choice;
Special

Public transport

Raises the attraction

transportation

rider: reduce trip

of the public

coupon

cost;

transportation;

All residents:
influence
stratification
balance;
Inter-mode

Public transport

Raise the whole

Need to pay more

discount

rider: reduce trip

service competitive

cost;

cost; user

ability and to increase

increase, comfort

the share rate;

246

decrease;

If can't acquire a

All trip maker:

reasonable government

more trip choice;

subsidy, will aggravate

the business cost
burden;

Free in

urban

center

Public transport

Raise the bus price

May be subjected to

rider: reduce cost;

competitive ability in

the public opinion

Residents in central

urban center and

pressure from

areas: trip

increase the share rate;

residential and

convenience; over

If can't acquire a

enterprises in the center

crowded in the area;

reasonable government

area;

All trip maker:

subsidy, will aggravate

influence on

the business cost

traffic load and

burden;

speed; more trip

choice;
Bus Lane

In line public

Raise the

Be helpful to raise

road for the public

transport rider:

competitive advantage

the service level;

transportation

reduce in-vehicle

of bus from the road

Increase management

vehicles

time; more

power allocation, and

cost of government;

crowded;

be helpful to guarantee

May be subjected to

Private car user:

the speed and the

the opinion pressure

quality;

from private

Provide

special

driveway for
private vehicle

transportation;

narrow down;
Other trip maker:
occupy
driveway for nonmotorized
vehicle, walk
way, isolation
belt and green
belt;
All trip maker:
chaos in entrance
and exit of special
lane; more trip
choice
Priority signal

Speed improving

Public transport

Raise the

Increase management

rider: shorten

competitive advantage

cost of government;

cross time;

of bus from the road

May be subjected to

mitigate cross

power allotment, being

the opinion pressure

nerves; improve

advantageous to the

from private

247

social evaluation;

speed and the quality;

transportation;

Priority right to

Increase the

Increase management

park for bus

competitive advantage

cost of government;

from land resources

May be subjected to

allocation and be

the opinion pressure

helpful to guarantee

from private

the speed and the

transportation;

Private car user:

prolong cross
waiting time;
psycho inferiority;
Other trip maker
prolong cross
waiting time;
psycho inferiority;
All trip maker:
mitigate cross
traffic jam;

Priority
parking

quality;

Rail
transportation
construction

Construction
mass

of

All trip maker:

Provide

Be helpful to raise

rail

improve trip

development

the service level of

convenience;

opportunity to the

public transportation,

more trip choice;

public transportation;

and satisfy residents'

Be convenient for

demand;

non public sector to

Increase public

have access to public

financial expenditure,

transportation;

and will probably be a

transportation

huge burden without

appropriate planning;
Increase
management cost of
government to public
transportation;
Permission

Restriction

the

Public transport

Increase the

Increase

for
district
access

accession

to

rider: improve

competitive advantage

management cost of

center area except

social evaluation;

from road right

government to public

bus

Private car user:

utilization and be

transportation;

psycho

helpful to guarantee

May be subjected to

inferiority;

the speed and the

the opinion pressure

quality;

from private

Other trip maker

psycho

transportation;

inferiority;
Residents in central

248

area: living
environment
changereduce
trip choice;
All trip maker:
reduce trip choice;
district orientation
change;

Public
opinion
guidance

Strengthens

the

All residents:

Be helpful to push

Cost is relative

publicity

and

strengthen public

the demand for public

lower;

transport service

transportation;

But the influence are

leading

toward

public

improvement

the most long-lasting

transportation

expectation;

and deepen.

Private car user:

uncertainty of
private car
consumption
increase;

9.5 Transit Priority and the Development of New Energy Bus

----Analysis on the Scale Development of Guangzhou LPG Bus16
New energy vehicles are different from the traditional vehicles using gasoline, diesel and
other fuels. At present, new energy vehicles mainly include alternative fuel vehicles and electric
vehicles. The categories of the former are liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), compressed natural gas
(CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG), gas to liquid (GTL), biomass to ethanol (BTE), biomass to
liquid (BTL), coal to methanol (CTM ), coal dimethyl ether (DME), coal to liquid (CTL), and so
on. And pure electric vehicle (EV), hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) and fuel-cell electric vehicle
(FCEV) are included in the latter.
During 100 years from the birth of the first car to present, transport energy, especially
automobile energy, have relied on conventional oil (petroleum) as their energy resource. Oil
(petroleum) is non-renewable, becoming increasingly depleted, market price volatile and policy
sensitive. Over the past few years, energy and environmental issues have stepped into the forefront
as major challenges across the world. In order to solve these problems, improve peoples living
standards and assure economic and social development in a sustainable way, societies must put an
emphasis on technological research, sustainable industrialization and full scale development of
new energy vehicles. To ease the shortage of oil supply and pressure of greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions and other pollutants, many developed countries such as the European Union (EU), the
United States (US), Japan and the worlds leading car manufacturers are focusing on the
diversification of vehicle energy and the development of new energy vehicles. According to their
own expertise, market conditions and judgments, they have chosen different technology pathways
toward developing sustainable transportation options and timetables. In the future, new energy
16

Source: Field survey to Guangzhou Municipal Commission of communications and Guangzhou Development
and Reform Commission, and interview the relevant members.
249

vehicle options will suggest a portfolio of solutions that are globally diverse, regionally
developed, and locally deployed. China vehicle development and vehicle market show significant
potential for continuing growth. This significant potential positions China in a leadership role to:
define new, innovative, and very financially effective pathways for the development and
deployment of new energy vehicles a far better position than the established transportation
infrastructures of the EU, United States and other developed countries. In recent years, many
international automobile companies have continuously increased investment in China and Chinese
auto enterprises have been studying advanced automotive technologies at multi-levels and in all
areas. At the same time, independent research and development capabilities, and independent
development of new brands has gained a lot of attention. However, there is a growing need for
understanding of the energy resource potential and the market potential of the new energy vehicles
from the perspectives of industry and the government.
Currently, buses are the core strategy of the transit priority. And, if developed sustainably,
should have characteristics of low energy consumption, low GHG emissions and pollution, small
footprint (requirement for space), etc. Compared to the traditional diesel-powered bus, new energy
buses have obvious advantages in reducing energy requirements, improving efficiency, reducing
tailpipe emissions, and guaranteeing energy supply security. Research and practice indicate that
taking the lead to develop new energy buses, which run a relatively fixed route and therefore have
simplified refueling requirements, can be upgraded in a relatively short period of time and can
apply mature technologies for production & maintenance effectively makes buses a very likely
candidate to institute new energy vehicle technologies in the near term. The public transport
system buses can also be coordinated to facilitate centralized management, professional pilot
demonstration and promotion of the scale development.
9.5.1 The Relationship between Transit Priority and New Energy Bus
In recent years, the concept of "transit priority" has gradually become the consensus of urban
residents, particularly local officials. The practice of developing new energy buses in Guangzhou
and other cities shows that transit priority and the development of new energy buses can support
each other. Firstly, transit priority can not only provide a new perspective of development policies
and social dynamic responses for the new energy buses, but also increase new sources of funding
and public financial supports for development of the new energy buses. Secondly, the
development of new energy buses is conducive to the implementation of the transit priority, and
expands the ideas of the transit priority to the public, let residents feel and practice the transit
priority in a clean and comfortable environment. Clearly, the transit priority and the development
of new energy buses share a close relationship. As showed in Figure 9.11.
The general sense of the transit priority refers to a mode which buses and other public transport
options within the city are at the core, supplemented by other modes of urban transport. Figure 11
mainly includes the priority of road right distribution (for example, create a special driveway for
public transport), land usage, fiscal and taxation support, and investment arrangements. The
application of new energy vehicles in the fields of public transportation will not only provide highquality, sustainable public transport services for the public, but also substantially speed up the

250

process of upgrading buses. Through testing of the market and society, the direction of new energy
bus development and technology routes will be selected.

Road right
distribution

Energy
structure
Include

Policy impetus, fund support

Organize

Land usage

Include

New energy bus

Transit priority
Fiscal and taxation
supporting

Include

Include

Improve

Efficiency

Reduce
Breakthrough & new idea

Emissions
Guarantee
Supply security

Investment
arrangement

Figure 9.11 Relationship between Transit Priority and

New Energy Bus Development

The combination of transit priority and the development of new energy buses expands the
effectiveness of a transit priority greatly. And, the outcome not only supports the sustainability of
the existing buses, but also the technology insertion process for new energy buses. At the same
time, new energy buses can be added into the process of road right distribution, land usage,
taxation and investment support. Public transport aims to provide the basic services for the general
public with a goal to maintain and improve the quality and level of services. So governments
should act on the concept of a "bus priority. And, a bus priority should closely follow the trend
of development of automotive technology, and continuously adopt the latest technologies, which
embody its "priority".
New energy buses not only expand the transit priority concept of urban transport
development, but also indicate an example to follow for new energy vehicle development.
Therefore, new energy buses should become a near term choice of urban transportation, from the
perspective of both public transportation development. Focusing on the development strategy of a
transit priority based on full scale development of LPG buses, Guangzhou integrates the concept
of a transit priority and the practice of new energy bus development together. The coordination of
initiatives is worth learning from and using as a reference.
9.5.2 Impetus of the Scale Development of LPG Bus in Guangzhou City and its Bases
It has always been a priority for Guangzhou city to promote its development of public
transport. However, due to the black smoke emitted by traditional buses, which influence the
quality of the city air, it is more and more difficult for the city to be recognized as the City for
Entrepreneurs and Good Life, Landscape of all, and Cultural Cities and Model City of

251

National Environmental Protection. The bad quality of the city air brings an unsatisfactory
feeling to the residents and more and more requests are being made to the local government
regarding improving the air quality.
The promotion of the LPG bus of Guangzhou City is under the control of National Clean
Vehicle Action. Also, as an opened city, Guangzhou city has a good development base for the
promotion of the LPG bus, including economic development, technology implementation system
and social environment. Guangzhou is also a coastal city and it has potential multi-sources of
natural gas. Please see the following Figure 9.12.
9.5.2.1 Main Impetus to Promote the Scale Development of LPG bus
1. Solving the Black Smoke problem
As two important components of public transport, buses and taxis shuttles in the city
frequently indicate a low share rate. And because of the poor emission condition, their impacts on
the city environment and residents health are great and direct.
(1) The share of the buses and taxis is only 1% of the city vehicle share, but their emissions
are accounted for about 50%, shown by Guangzhou environmental monitoring data;
(2) According to an environmental protection investigation by social conditions organization
of Guangzhou city, Black smoke is always the most prominent problem and the biggest
environmental health hazard, which was enlisted by Guangzhou residents from 2001-2004. The
rate of residents with a negative opinion on air quality is sharply increasing year by year;
(3) In 2004, an average of about 10,000 vehicles per month received complaints by the
residents for their black smoke emissions. Of the complaints,, more than 5,000 were buses,
accounting for more than half of the total complaints.
2. Transit Priority and Creating the Model City of National Environmental Protection are
two important goals of the Guangzhou city and are promoted powerfully.
(1) In 2003, the goal of substituting the traditional fuels used in bus and taxi for clean fuels in
future 3 years was clearly outlined, and added into the Public Project;
(2) In 2004, the Guangzhou LPG bus project was listed in the summary program of creating
the Model City of National Environmental Protection and became one of the key projects;
(3) Fully promoting the use of LPG across the bus industry, a concept presented to
Guangzhou transport commission, was considered a revolutionary concept for regulating the
energy structure.
9.5.2.2 Basic Conditions for Promoting the LPG Bus in Guangzhou City
1. The solid base: National Clean Vehicle Action
Guangzhou City was listed as one of the 12 pilot cities for National Clean Vehicle Action in

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1999, and that was the beginning of the clean energy vehicle program in Guangzhou.
Demonstration of the clean energy vehicle initiative is with respect to buses. A one year
experiment using LPG buses was put into operation on 30 buses on route number 12 of the First
Bus Company Good social and environmental results have been received.
In 2001, Guangzhou passed the checking and acceptance of the model city of National 9th
Five-Year Clean Vehicle Action, and it became one of the 16 Main Extending Cities of Clean
Vehicle which was part of the key technology program.
2. New vs. mature technology and the integrated system
The implementation of LNG and CNG vehicles is greatly restricted by the fuel technology,
gas stations construction, vehicle technology, city conditions and so on.
(1) Fuel technology
Compared with other fuels, LPG has more advantages and can satisfy the following
conditions necessary for city buses: short time fuel injection; long miles of continuous
operation; high quality and easy maintenance; proper price, not too high, can be used for
public application;
(2) Gas station construction
Because of the high intensity of the population and buildings, a safe gas station must be
guaranteed. LPG station construction represents some of the most mature technologies used
internationally;
(3) Vehicle technology
The engine requirements of LPG buses had been verified as a mature technology nationally
and internationally, which had also been testified by authoritative institutions many times and been
proved to be safe and credible;
(4) City conditions
Guangzhou is an opened and coastal city which lies in the southeast of China. It has
developed for many years ahead of many other cities. It has good conditions such as multi-sources
of gas supply and a good economic environment. In addition, Guangzhou has warm weather
conditions with the average temperature above 10 centigrade throughout the year.

253

National Clean Vehicle Action

Preponderant technologies
Basic conditions
Integrated system

Good climate condition

Main impetus

Policy aiming

Complaints of residents

Promotion by government

Solve the tail gas pollutions

Bus
Origin of tail gas

Public
transporta
tion

Taxi
Sedan and
so on

Decomposing the
target

Take the lead in dealing

with tail gas of bus

Transit
priority

New energy bus

LPG bus

Figure 9.12 Impetus and Bases of Guangzhou LPG Bus

9.5.3 Main Actions and Fruits of the LPG Bus in Guangzhou City
In order to solve the black smoke problem, Guangzhou city concentrated on the
implementation of LPG buses. Based on the concept of a transit priority, Guangzhou quickened
the steps of promoting the clean energy buses and created a green transit program. The program
involved local government, bus companies and other stakeholders. By the end of 2006, Model
City of National Environmental Protection creation work had been checked and accepted,

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resulting in the following quote, Success and the effect of the clean energy bus program have
demonstrated significance to implementation nationwide. See Figure 9.13.
9.5.3.1 Main Actions of the LPG Bus Implementation
1. Local government: putting emphasis on it and implementing strongly
(1) Setting up a special leading group and the standing coordination body
Under the guidance of Guangzhou municipal committee and the Guangzhou government,
Guangzhou Clean Vehicle Action Coordinated Leading Group was established by several relevant
departments, the function of which is to implement LPG buses. The establishment of the special
leading group insured the implementation.
The technology and security of LPG buses needs to be known and solved in time. In order to
solve these problems, bus companies, engine factories and many other stakeholders were
coordinated to establish a periodical meeting system by Guangzhou Transport Commission. The
purpose of the meeting system is to guarantee LPG sources, the supply of fittings, and so on.
(2) Increasing the intensity of financial support and subsidies
At the beginning of the LPG bus implementation program, the price department approved a
lower price after checking the profit of the gas suppliers in order to ensure the advantage of the
LPG price. Then, at the phase of scale development of the LPG buses, gas prices increased due to
the demand and supply of the market.
(3) Coordinating to construct support facilities
A number of LPG station should be constructed with the implementation of LPG buses, and
one of the toughest problem is choosing their locations. 80% of the location problem has been
solved by relevant organizations coordinated by Guangzhou Transport Commission, which is the
basic condition for the development of LPG buses.
(4) Making and improving relevant policies and regulations
Under the guidance of the concept of transit priority, several organizations and industries
have made many kinds of policies and regulations. In terms of technological regulations, there are
Guangzhou Technological Regulation on the Operation of the Gasoline Bus and Electronic Bus,
Guangzhou Public Transport Regulations on the Use and Refit the LPG Bus. In terms of vehicle
security insurance, there are Guangzhou Regulations on the Vehicle Security of LPG Bus (Try
out), Guangzhou Transport Commission lash-up management counter plan for LPG Bus security
accident (Try out). And, in terms of industrial workers, there is the Guangzhou Coach
Organization Conditions for Industrial Worker in LPG Bus (Try out). All these policies and
regulations facilitate the development of LPG buses institutionally and industrially.
(5) Strengthening the publicity and opinion orientation

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In the process of implementation of LPG buses, Guangzhou put emphasis on publicity and
opinion orientation through news briefings, LPG buses participating in ceremonies, publicity
pamphlets, VCD and so on. These methods created good public opinion and a strong social base
for the scale development of LPG buses.

specific body

Guangzhou Transport C
ommision

Guangzhou environmen
tal bureau

Guangzhou development
and reform commission

Clean vehicle action coordinated leading group

Organization leading
Functions
All parts coordination

Increasing the intensity of financial supports and subsidies

Coordinating to construct support facilities

Policies
Making and improving relevant policies and regulations

Strengthening the publicity and opinion orientation

Figure 9.13 Main Actions of Guangzhou LPG Bus Implementation

2. Business: positive response, taking into account social responsibility and corporate
benefits
(1) Assign responsibilities to everyone
At the request of Guangzhou Clean Vehicle Action Coordinated Leading Group, bus
companies need to consider each possible factor scientifically and systematically in order to
effectively implement plans and fulfill responsibilities. They should divide the plan with each
person indentified with monthly accountability to takes in order to establish root cause problem
checking, and the ability to analyze and solve problems within the system.

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(2) Classification of enterprises of different ownership

By the end of 2006, Guangzhou had a total of 14 bus companies, comprised of 70% of bus
companies which were owned or held by the nation and 30% owned by others. Different
approaches for different companies have been established to promote LPG buses and good results
have occurred.
(3) Gas supplier: focusing on the long-term benefits
The main supplier of Guangzhou LPG is Guangzhou Lianxin Energy Development Corp.
Ltd, which was reformed from the former Guangzhou Public Affair Bureau. It is the largest
vehicle-used gas supplier and is in possession of 18 gas stations of the total 28 stations. In the
process of promoting LPG buses, Lianxin focused on the long-term benefits and undertook social
responsibility under the pressures of price fluctuation. So the stable supply of LPG is guaranteed
for the healthy development of LPG buses.
9.5.3.2 Fruits of the LPG Bus Implementation
1. Gasoline bus converted to LPG bus quickly with full satisfaction of the gas station
Guangzhou is the most successful example of promoting the LPG bus as part of the total
model cities that had joined in the Clean Vehicle Actions program. Started in 2003, Guangzhou
had substituted a total of 16,000 taxis to LPG taxis for 3 years. 6,400 of 8,000 buses had been
selected to become LPG buses. In 2006, LPG buses and taxis displaced (avoided the use of)
470,000 tons of gasoline and diesel fuel (include conversion to gallons), which accounted for
about 1/5 of the fuel consumption of Guangzhou city. These measures contributed greatly to abate
the shortage of traditional fuels. By the end of 2006, there were 28 LPG stations in the city, which
satisfied the full demand of the buses and taxis.
2. Significantly reduce tailpipe emissions
The environmental protection benefit of the clean energy vehicle has been fully expressed
through the LPG bus. Assuming that the pollution of a total of 240,000 buses and taxis is 40%50% of the total transportation related pollution, then the reduction of CO is 22,000 tons, HC
2,430 tons, NOX 1,779 tons and PM 417 tons.
3. Operation of buses gradually improved
At present the technology of LPG buses in Guangzhou city reached

the advanced level

internationally through technology innovation over time. For example, through breakthroughs
associated with: combustion efficiencies responsible for lowering gas consumption, reduced
engine failure, reduced cost and noise, the gas consumption per hundred kilometers of LPG bus
being reduced to 65 liters from 83 liters in 2003. The gap between the average cost of gas and
traditional fuel has been reduced to 12 per hundred kilometers from 62 per kilometers in

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2003 and the gap is continuing to shrink. The engine failure of LPG buses of the Guangzhou
nation-owned bus company has reduced no more than 0.84 once per thousand vehicular kilometers
and the maintenance fee reduced to 300-330 per thousand kilometers, solving the technological
problem of LPG for high-powered bus engines.
9.5.4 Policy Assumption and Suggestions about Developing New Energy Buses
9.5.4.1 Integrated Consideration of the Long-term Use of Gasoline and Diesel Vehicles.
Set Key Scientific Areas and Priority Options for the New Energy Vehicle Development in
Mid-term and Long-term.
In the near-term, many kinds of new energy fuels and vehicle technologies will still be
undergoing R&D. Objective and scientific evaluation needs to occur in order to fully comprehend
the global, regional, and local advantages and disadvantages of new energy fuels compared with
traditional fuels such as gasoline and diesel. Traditional fuels, such as gasoline and diesel fuels,
will dominate the market in the near to mid-term though new energy fuels will begin to displace
the traditional fuels in a growing proportion over time.
In conclusion, considering the development phases of different new energy fuels and specific
regional and local environments and requirements, the development of new energy fuels should be
planned as a sustainable system in order to set key priority areas and select effective options for
the proliferation of new energy developments in the near and mid-term.
With respect to the current strategic plan of action, we should position the choice of the
development and deployment pathways for the new energy fuels as alternative strategy. More
significantly and essentially, this will become a long-term insurance policy to the guaranteed
supply of diverse vehicle fuels. Electric vehicles, especially electric buses, should also be
considered as a viable and sustainable new energy transportation option.
Electric power is one of the cleanest energy from the point of end-users and can be
transferred, since it is an energy carrier, to numerous other kinds of energy easily. In China, the
electric power industry has been developed over that past 60 years, and it currently satisfies the
electricity needs of the countrys economic and social development, including the capacity to
support a large volume of electric vehicles. The first bus of our country was fueled by electricity.
Railroad cars and trolleybuses not only played an important role in the a hundred year history of
the bus, but also accumulated very valuable insights and experiences. The technology and
management of electric buses is very mature. Next generation electric buses, like those with supercapacitors and fuel cells, are developing quickly. Through many recent studies, the market
competitiveness of electric vehicles has been significantly enhanced. And the trolley bus or trolley

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car will experience further development in many cities.

9.5.4.2 Implementing Different New Energy Development Strategies.
Diversified, long-term and scaled new energy vehicle development strategies should be
undertaken at a national level. And the macro-guidance and policy support to new energy vehicle
development should be wide-ranging, avoiding idiographic and high national selection of a single
fuel and single technology solution. Research has indicated time and time again, that there is no
silver bullet to answer the sustainable transportation energy dilemma. Rather, there needs to be a
comprehensive, long term, nationally supported and co-developed strategy that leverages all of the
interdependencies from the transportation energy resource to energy conversion to energy carriers
to propulsion system value chain
Locally, especially in one particular city, the implementation of new energy vehicles should
be targeted and very specific. Based on the circumstances of the city the best new energy vehicle
in each phases of the city development should be selected and implemented. Therefore, continuous
public transit systems across of local area could be formed.
9.5.4.3 Integrated concept of transit priority and related policies. Establish and fulfill
the long-term mechanisms for the new energy bus.
After years of city development, the concept of transit priority is popular and the relevant
policy system has been gradually established. At present, transit priority has become a long-term
strategy, whereas new energy bus development is still a short-term government-oriented
behavior, lacking continuous motivation and long-term, sustainable policy and business
mechanisms. Public transit is a known focus area for governments and citizens. At the same time,
the area of new energy buses is comparatively unknown, hence it faces difficulties for
development.
The success of LPG buses to full scale market development in Guangzhou indicates that the
transit priority and new energy bus could be mutually-promoted, mutually-sustained and mutuallybeneficial. By the methods of active guidance and long-term security, new energy buses, which are
mature in technology, can be developed and deployed in the near term. And, on the basis of
serving the citizen, replacement of traditional buses with new energy buses will be realized
gradually.
9.5.4.4 Setting up the new energy bus fleet. Government and public sectors should be
the first user of the new energy vehicle.17
Public transit is a permanent theme for city development and the most realistic issue for
citizens as well. Development and deployment of new energy buses is a near-term solution,

17

Authors:

Pan Kexi, Associate Professor, School of Social Development and Public Policy, Fudan University
Chang Zheng, PhD. Candidate, School of Social Development and Public Policy, Fudan University

259

though it still presents challenges and opportunities with respect to deployment at a large scale.,
Thus, we suggest that a new energy bus fleet organization be created along with unification in
order to reduce the impact on citizens travel. Furthermore, doing this would lay the foundation for
the formal commercial operation of new energy buses.
Public sectors, such as governments, schools, police stations, large exhibitions and so on,
should undertake the role of choosing a new energy vehicle to enhance the awareness of new
energy vehicle options and increase demand for new energy vehicles in the market.

9.1 Policy Recommendations

As mentioned before, concrete policy analysis is depends on the circumstances. But there are
certainly some common rules for current China to achieve public transport priority. After
reviewing the existing researches, and also based on the current research, it is concluded that
public transport priority needs to take the interests and preferences of public transport consumer
and supplier both into account, and provide reasonable incentive mechanisms on both sides at the
same time.
With respect to the supply side:
(1) Supply-side incentive mechanisms are an important way to ensure public transport
priority;
Government and public transport enterprises are two major suppliers in an urban public
transportation system. Enterprises are economic organizations that provide public transport service
directly. Government has the function of providing public services. The implementation of public
transportation priority will continually strengthen and improve the enterprises' internal incentive
mechanisms, incentive regulations between government and enterprises, and incentive
mechanisms within different government organizations.
(2) Its need to strengthen incentive mechanisms within government as the key point of the
implementation of public transportation priority
The lack of government level support has been identified as a serious problem in China
currently. To solve this problem there needs to be a available institutional allocation that provides
services evaluation, financial support and legislation;
(3) It should be established as a long term institutional arrangement and be harmonized with
an administrative system.
Public transportation priority is an important strategy of government. It is necessary to
continued to shift governments major function from economy to public service and strengthen the
willingness and capability of Regional and Urban government.
With respect to demand side:
(1) Strengthen public opinion guidance, improve public transport service image and manage
excessive expansion of the automotive sector;
(2) Develop policies that may include: biding for vehicle registration, congestion pricing,
High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, advanced technology and alternative fueled vehicle
incentives, lanes, and rebates, etc. ;

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(3) Supply comfortable, rapid, convenient and highly efficient multi-level public transport
service:
Rapid node public transport: supply rapid nonstop transit service with low fare among major
traffic nodes; provide service for middle and low income long-distance trip maker.
Traditional lateral public transport: provide short distance and lateral service to support rapid
nodes transport.
Nonstop commute public transport: provide district optimized high quality and prime price
service of point to point nonstop commute service for middle and higher income trip maker
between home and work place.

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Chapter 10 Energy Development for Urban Sustainable

Mobility
10.1

Introduction

Mobility, as an enabler of access, is an essential part of human life, and the demand for mobility is
becoming stronger in modern society. It is not only a necessary support for economic
development, but also an indispensable element of daily life, communication, world discovery,
and leisure activities. Along with the advancement of human civilization and modern
transportation technologies, high quality mobility is no longer a luxury for the minority, but
provides the majority with unprecedented accessibility and quality of life.
However, associated with the development of mobility, some negative impacts of
transportation arise and these are becoming serious, especially in urban areas. Many metropolitan
areas, e.g. Beijing, suffer from traffic jams, emission pollution, transportation noise, and
unacceptable levels of traffic accidents. It is an ironic and unintended fact that modern
transportation means and measures, deliberately and sophisticatedly fostered by society to
improve the mobilizing quality and comfort, have negative impacts. The need for sustainable
transportation solutions has become urgent.
Unfortunately, the negative impacts of transportation do not only arise from transportation
itself and therefore can not be removed within transportation dimension only. There are some
internal, essential, and systematic reasons and principles that cause the unfavorable transportation
impacts. The multi-dimensional nature of transportation determines that the problem needs
collaboration among different fields and can only be addressed through inter-disciplinary
approaches.
It was in realizing this that the Sustainable Urban Mobility Project for Chinese Cities
sponsored by BP (SUMO as acronym) was initiated to involve researchers from the following six
different disciplines: urban planning, transportation planning, energy, environment, automobile
technology, and public policy. These six teams were united, aiming to re-think the connections
between transportation and each discipline, not only from the sole perspective of each discipline
but also from an integrated, comprehensive, and panoramic perspective based on the
understanding of other disciplines, and to find essential and well-balanced solutions for
sustainable urban mobility.
In this chapter, study from energy system for sustainable urban mobility is conducted as an
integral part of the whole project. Endeavor has been made to avoid the outdated framework of
studying the energy supply for transportation only from technical level with conventional logic
and to look at transportation energy only from within the transportation energy dimension.
Motivated by new findings from inter-disciplinary perspective, we want to fully understand the
systematic and intrinsic connections between energy and mobility, to scrutinize the transportation

264

energy supply under the whole scheme of national energy system, and to reveal the fundamental
and effective ideas and solutions for supporting the sustainable development of urban
transportation.
The chapter is arranged as following: section 1.1 is the introduction to describe the objectives
of the study. Section 1.2 elucidates the overall national energy pictures and dilemmas which
transportation energy has to face to. Section 1.3 analyzes the essential and intrinsic linkage
between energy and transportation and consequently deduces the paradigm for matching energy
with transportation. Section 1.4 discusses the criteria for judging the future trend of transportation
energy and comments possible options. Section 1.5 introduced the methodologies that are
necessary to accomplish the ideas proposed in the previous sections, including optimization of
transportation energy technology portfolio and dynamic planning of infrastructures.

10.2

The overall energy status of China

10.2.1 Five challenges

As described in the SUMO Phase I report-Urban Sustainable Mobility in China: problems,
challenges and realization(Tsinghua SUMO research group, 2007), China is facing five major
energy challenges.
(1) Tight energy supply caused by huge and ever increasing energy demand
Along with rapid economic growth, total energy demand of China increased dramatically.
Historically, China exceeded Germany and Japan in total energy consumption in 1975 and became
the third largest energy consuming country. In 1993, China further surpassed Russian and became
the second largest energy consuming country, only secondary to USA (BP, 2006). In 2007, the
total primary energy consumption of China was estimated to be 2.65 billion tce 18, which is five
times as much as that in 1975.
During the first two decades of reform and opening-up, the growth rate of Chinas energy
consumption was relatively low compared with high GDP growth rate and the energy intensity
(energy consumption per Unit GDP) dropped 60%. From 1978 to 2000 (Figure 10.1), China
achieved the miracle of energy saving with quadrupled GDP increase against doubled energy
consumption increase.
However, the decreasing trend of energy intensity reversed at the beginning of 21 st century. In
2001, the energy intensity began to rebound, with a much higher growth rate of energy
consumption than that of GDP. The total energy consumption increases rapidly (Figure 10.2) and
for many times surpassed the governments adjusted planning values (Figure 10.3). The first
typical example was the so-called overall tension of coal, electricity, oil, and transportation all
over the country that happened around 2001 to 2003, the first half of the 10th Five-Year Plan
period of China. After entering the 11th Five-Year Plan period, the total energy consumption was
2.46 tce in 2006 and 2.65 billion tce in 2007, with an annual increase of 240 and 190 million tce
respectively, among which the coal consumption increased more than 150 million ton yearly.
18

tce: ton of coal equivalent

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Meanwhile, the Oil Import Dependency (OID) continued to increase and concerns on energy
security have become more and more serious.
Contrast to the huge value of Chinas GDP 19 and total energy consumption, either GDP or
energy consumption per capita are still quite low compared with the world average level due to its
large population. According to international experience, the energy consumption per capita usually
increases along with the GDP per capita(Figure 10.4)before it reaches 20 thousand dollars. That
implies that Chinas energy consumption per capita and total energy consumption still have a big
headroom for increasing and will bring in more severe challenges for energy supply.

Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBSC), China Statistical Yearbook (Unit: tce/10,000 yuan GDP @2000 price)

Figure 10.1 Histrorical curve of energy intensity in China

Data source: China Statistics Yearbook

Figure 10.2 Change of GDP and total energy consumption of China between
1991 and 2007

19

According to International Monetary Foundations (IMF) world GDP (PPP) comparison table in 2007, and IEAs
World Energy Outlook 2007, China is the second largest economy in the world, only secondary to USA.
266

Data source: China Statistical Yearbook and government planning

Figure 10.3 Comparisons of the actual energy consumption and the planning
objectives

Figure 10.4 International comparison of energy consumption per capita and GDP per capita
(1980-2002)
Column C: China Energy flow chart in 2005
The energy flow chart of China is shown in Figure 10.5. The figure clearly states Chinas primary energy
supply and its sources and the distribution of energy consumption in different end-use sectors ( Li Zheng, 2006.).
Obviously, the industry and construction are the most important energy consumers, and they consume more than
75% of total annual energy consumption.

267

Figure 10.5 China Energy flow chart

(2) Liquid fuel shortage and high oil import dependency

China needs to import a large amount of oil due to the rapid growth of oil demand, the
shortage of domestic oil resource, and the limited capability of oil production. In 2007, the oil
import dependency (OID) of China reached as high as 46%.
Transportation is the most important driving factor for oil demand. Currently, transportation
consumed more than 40% of the total oil supply, and has a tendency likely to increase. According
to international experience, the vehicle population usually increases with the growth of GDP per
capita. According to the estimation by foreign researchers, Chinas vehicle population will
increase from 37 million to 370 million from 2005 to 2030 (Figure 10.6), which nears a 10 times
increase. The international energy agency (IEA) forecasted that the oil import dependency (OID)
of China will exceed 60% in 2020, and 70% before 2030 (IEA, 2007).

Figure 10.6 Vehicle Penetration as an income function, projection to 2030

(3) Severe environmental pollution

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With the rapid growth of energy consumption, Chinas environment problem becomes more
and more severe. There are several constituent for the air pollution in China: Firstly, the
conventional pollution (NOx, SO2 and dust) is still a major problem and 80% of these pollutants
come from fossil fuel combustion, especially from direct coal combustion; secondly, in megapolis
areas, the soot-type pollution has changed into a combination of soot and vehicle exhausted gas
pollution with the latter accounting for over 80% CO emission and over 40% NO x emission (Cao
Xianghong, 2005; Li Xinmin, 2005); the HC emission and aspirable particulate matters emitted by
vehicle internal combustion engines (ICE) are also big sources of air pollution in cities. Detailed
discussion on environmental pollution issue can be referred to the chapter on environment in this
book.
Table 10.1 The amount of main pollutants in china in reference case.
Unit: million ton

1990

2005

2015

2030

Environmental
permitted emission

NOx

15

19

21

19

PM2.5

12

14

12

SO2

19

26

31

30

16

Source: National statistical bureau, China Statistical Yearbook; IEA, World Energy Outlook 2007

(4) Increasing clean energy demand due to fast urbanization

The average living energy consumption per capita in urban areas is about 2 times more than
that in rural areas (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2007), and the total energy consumption
per capita in urban areas is 3.5 times more than that in rural areas. Furthermore, the quality of
energy service in urban area is much superior (Zhou Dadi, 2003). Currently, among the total 1.3
billion population in China, nearly 0.7 billion people live in rural areas. The growing prosperous
farmers together with the better-off town residents demand more high quality, convenient, and
clean energy service.
As a rough estimation, were the energy consumption per capita for people living in the rural
areas equals to that of people living in urban areas, there will be a direct 40% energy consumption
increase even if the urban energy consumption remains its current level. Additionally, the energy
infrastructure in rural areas which falls far behind that in towns and cities badly needs an update in
a very large scale, the construction of which will budget a large amount of energy sources. The
indirect energy consumption, if added, will make the challenge to the energy products, energy
quality and infrastructure construction even more severe.
(5) Huge GHG emission with rapid growth
In 2006, the total CO2 emission of China was very close to that of USA, and it was only a
problem of time to overpass USA as the energy consumption of China kept growing rapidly. As
forecasted by IEA, China will be the largest CO 2 emission country in the world before 2015,
though its emission per capita will still be 60% lower than that of USA. China will have to face
continuous political and economic pressure as the voice of CO 2 reduction becomes louder and
stronger in international communities. GHG emission will possibly become a tough constraint of
Chinas economic development.

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Table 10.2 Top five countries for energy-related CO2 emissions in the baseline scenario.
Total amount
2005

Per capita

2015

2030

2005

2015

2030

Gt

rank

Gt

rank

Gt

rank

USA

5.8

6.4

6.9

19.5

19.6

19

China

5.1

8.6

11.4

3.9

6.2

7.9

Russia

1.5

1.8

10.7

13.3

16

Japan

1.2

1.3

1.2

India

1.1

1.8

3.3

1.4

2.3

Data source: IEA, World energy outlook 2007

Currently 80% of CO2 in China is emitted from coal combustion, among which 50% is
produced from coal power generation. The CO2 emission of transportation is only 1/6 that of the
coal power generation, and this proportion is estimated to be between 1/4 and 1/5 in 2050.
Concentrated and large scale coal utilization sector, such as power generation, therefore, should be
the starting point and key strength for CO2 reduction in China.
Table 10.3 Energy-related CO2 emissions by sectors in the baseline scenario (million ton).
Sector

1990

2005

2010

2015

2030

2005-2030*

Power generation

652

2500

3589

4450

6202

3.70%

Industry

800

1430

2014

2186

2373

2.00%

Transport

121

337

486

664

1255

5.40%

Residential and services**

479

468

550

622

715

1.70%

Other***

191

356

585

709

903

3.70%

Source: IEA, World Energy Outlook 2007.

*Average annual growth rate. ** Includes agriculture sector.

***Includes other

transformation and no-energy use

10.2.2 Clues for better understanding about Chinese energy

problems
1

The trend of future global energy development

Globally, the main driving forces of future energy development include the growth of energy
demand, energy reserve and the capability of energy supply, energy technology, climate change,
consideration and decision making on energy security by every country.
Under the main rhythm of pursuing peace and economic development all over the world, the
growth of energy demand seems to be an incontestable fact (IEA, 2007). Fossil energy, which now
is the major energy used in the world, will still have enough reserves before 2050. But the problem
comes from the unbalanced geological distribution of fossil energy resource, with the main
resources centralized in a few energy production areas. The uneven situation of oil, which is the
most important to global energy development, is illustrated in Figure 10.7 (IEA, 2005). It shows

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that there is still big potential for both conventional and unconventional reserves, and reserve band
of oil with economical exploitation will continue to expand with the improvement of exploitation
technologies and promotion of the rising-up oil price.

Figure 10.7 Conventional and unconventional oil reserves and the economic price

So it could be summarized that: in global scope, the most important driving forces for future
energy development should be energy security and climate change because of the inevitability of
energy demand growth, relatively abundant fossil fuel reserves, the affiliation between the
development of energy technologies and the strategy and policy of different countries for energy
development, that is, the trend of future global energy development is mainly determined by the
attitude, emphasis, and strength taken by each country toward energy security and climate change
problems. The problem of the development of future global energy supply could be summarized as
three questions: (1) How to produce and supply energy? (2) Who produce and supply energy? (3)
Where to produce and supply energy? The essence of these questions at least includes the
following:
Firstly, how to select and exploit the energy resources: should we continue using and
depending on conventional fossil energy, or actively diversify the energy resources by increasing
the utilization of nuclear and renewable energy, especially the oil replaceable alternative energy to
reduce OID?

Secondly, how to possess and utilize global energy resources: should we leave things as
they are, which may encounter China with mostly possible energy supply disruption due to the
variation and fluctuation of global energy market, or go-out actively to participate the exploitation
and supply of global energy resource to strengthen our position in influencing and pricedetermining the global energy market?

Thirdly, how to balance domestic energy production and import energy: though it could
reduce OID and improve oil security by using relatively abundant local resources to produce
alternative fuel such as coal to liquid, we still need to balance near-term urgent demand and longterm sustainability, and the benefit and the cost, and finally to build a balanced relationship
between the foreign and native energy.

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It should be mentioned that the rapidly rising oil price and changing climate are the new
situations and new problems for every country, the strategy and direction of future energy
development are still in an exploring and researching stage for most countries, and there is still not
a final conclusion. But it could be concluded: firstly, in near term, at least before 2030, the fossil
fuel dominant energy structure could not be radically changed because of the huge inertia of the
energy system transition and the induced difficulties for direction change; secondly, at the same
time, the development of low carbon economy and related energy technologies will be an inerrable
long-term trend due to the worries of energy security and the underlying economic risk to reduce
CO2 emission passively in the future. Following this long-term trend, nuclear, hydro and other
renewable energy could be developed fast together with fossil energy.
2

Several clues to understand Chinese energy problems

For China, although the long-term energy development trend is also strongly affected by the
willingness and actions taken for the energy security and climate change problems, the much more
urgent problems are rapid growth of energy demand, tensed-up energy supply, and severe
conventional pollutions in the near term. The interlacing of near and long term problems results in
the unique complexity of energy problems in China. Therefore, the correct strategy and direction
of energy development leading to sustainability could only be made based on a deep
understanding of the essence of Chinese energy problems. The author suggested that the
understanding of the energy problems of China needs to follow the clues described below.

Principles for rapid growth of energy demand

Light industry

Heavy and chemical industry

Primary stage of
industrialization
energy intensity
(energy consumption per GDP)

Accelerating stage of
industrialization

Assembly and deep processing

industry

Matured stage of
industrialization

Peaking up

New industry such as IT

Post-industrialization

Coming down

Figure 10.8 Energy intensity and industrialization process

Objectively, the rapid growth of energy demand in China is determined by the main driving
force for energy demand growth accompanied with the economic development of China, such as
industrialization, urbanization, and motorization (Li, Zheng, 2006).

Evidence shows that the economic growth of China has entered the special stage which is
characterized with high energy consumption with accelerating industrialization and expanding of
heavy and chemical industries. Referring to international experience, the acceleration of
industrialization could possibly continue to 2020 or even later, and energy intensity could be kept
high due to common principle in this stage shown in Figure 10.8 The trend of energy intensity
change will heavily depend on the transition of economic structure and adoption of more efficient
technologies. Industrial policies and energy policies which emphasize energy saving are badly
needed to shorten the period and to reduce the peak value for energy intensity to climb and to push
China on the track of new industrialization.
Besides, other important characteristics of economic stage of China are the unbalanced

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regional development and huge gap of the living standard between urban and rural areas. From
this aspect, the space for energy demand growth is still very large as the economic growth is far
from saturated.

Latent economic risk in the construction of energy infrastructure

As mentioned in the former chapters, urbanization is an inevitable result of economic growth

and an objective embodiment of development of social form reaching higher levels. And the
process of rapid urbanization will inevitably bring large scale and highly concentrated
construction of infrastructure, among which energy infrastructure is an important and key
component.
Because the end-use energy could not be cut off from energy infrastructure, the certain type
of energy or energy supply mentioned in this chapter actually means the whole energy supply
chain (energy infrastructure) including energy exploitation, energy conversion, energy
transportation, energy distribution, and the energy carrier. From this point of view, to discuss the
great advantage of a certain kind of energy resource or energy carrier ignorant of infrastructure
and the performance of whole supply chain is unilateral and impractical.
Infrastructure has special characteristics such as physically networked, immovable and
monetary capital precipitable (Mao Qizhi, 2001) besides the attribution of being social, public
welfare and public service, and supplying basic service to the living and production of the society.
So infrastructure itself is a great economic wealth accumulated with society development.
Infrastructure is always expected to be permanent and functional. Well-maintained infrastructure
will give strong support to the development of society and economy. And overusing or insufficient
using of infrastructure wastes social wealth. The worst example is to abandon or rebuild the huge
cost infrastructures due to wrong planning or planning without enough foreseeing.
The long supply chain crossing different economic sectors and regions, the large scale and
complexity of network, the match with certain energy carrier, the high capital investment, and the
long construction time of the energy infrastructure raise the already-high requirements to maintain
permanently without losing its value. The energy infrastructure built for a certain type of energy
should ensure a long duration, enough, and continuous energy supply to keep and increase the
benefit of its wealth; on the other hand, considering the exhausting of the traditional energy
resource and requirement to develop more new energy and renewable energy, the suitability and
ability to be continuously used in energy infrastructure should be thoroughly considered.
Obviously, in selecting future direction and planning the transition of the whole energy system, the
factor of energy infrastructure should be adequately considered. And the development of new
energy type or energy technology should be implemented very carefully to avoid a complete
abandon of infrastructures or a big loss of wealth.
China is now experiencing a dynamic development with rapid industrialization and
urbanization, and the construction of energy infrastructure is very intensive. So the importance of
correct planning and building of energy infrastructure to preserve the wealth should be equal to or
even overpass the importance of energy security. Currently energy security receives much more
attention.
For example, referring to the estimation of NDRC made in the early stage of 10 th Five-Year

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Plan period (Xu Dingming, 2007), the total capital investment of energy infrastructure of China in
the 15 years before 2020 should be 10 trillion RMB, which has not yet included the internal
energy infrastructure in cities. As estimated by IEA, the accumulated capital investment of energy
infrastructure in China during 2006-2030 will be 10~15 trillion RMB at 2006's price, which is
more than Chinas total GDP in 2006 (IEA, 2007). And in the same period, the total accumulated
cost of annually importing 120 million ton oil will be 10 trillion RMB if assuming the average oil
price to be 100 dollars.
Thus, it can be seen how important a correct and foreseeing planning of energy infrastructure
is. And the economic risk brought by insufficient use or abandon of infrastructure should be well
recognized because it may bring disaster of a growing GDP without a growing wealth

Concerns on energy security and the development of alternative fuels

As Chinas oil import dependence increases, the source of imported oil becomes more
concentrated. The increasingly crowded oil transport channels and key oil accesses with foreign
military attempting to control bring a serious threat to the security of oil transport corridors, which
makes China concern much more on the energy security. Moreover, the soaring oil price has
substantive impact on Chinese economy, this reinforces the intense atmosphere. Foreign scholars
did many researches on the intention of Chinese energy security and the reasons of
implementation of go out strategy. It can be summarized as the following (Kenneth Lieberthal,
Mikkal Herberg, 2006):
Being suspicious to the international energy market, China believes that the energy
market is manipulated by the cunning international oil companies, western developed countries,
and the oil-export countries which are instable and difficult to trust.

The oil market is dominated by United States and US will firmly grasp the weakness
of Chinese energy system: U.S. navy controls the key marine energy transport channels, U.S. has
tremendous power in the global oil industry and organizations, and U.S. can exert strong influence
on world oil price and trade flow.

In the world oil market, China plays a relatively weak and newcomers role, and
China has to catch up and surpass. However, the global oil organization and the major oil
companies safeguard the interests of western developed countries, excluding China.

To a certain extent, the comments above reveal Chinas concerns on energy security and
initiative strategic efforts to solve the problem despite the authors US position.
In fact, the efforts to ensure oil security are not only reflected in the go out strategy, but also
in internal policy, such as the development of coal liquefaction, bio-ethanol, and other alternative
fuels. Since the development of alternative fuels can not only play a positive role for energy
security, but also have side effects, such as higher cost, more energy consumption, and sometimes
more CO2 emission. Therefore, it is obvious that the energy security concerns and the resulting
intention to develop alternative fuels have important impacts on Chinas future energy.
Column B: Literature survey of energy security
1) Daniel Yergin: The basic contents of energy security20

20

Daniel Yergin. Chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), he is one of the famous authorities on energy security.

274

At the hearing entitled Foreign Policy and National Security Implications of Oil Dependence held by the
committee on foreign affairs, US house of representatives on March 22rd, 2007, Daniel Yergin explained his latest
understanding of the fundamentals of energy security, which mainly includes:
1. Diversification
2. Resilience a security margin
3. High-quality and timely information
4. Collaboration among consumers and between consumers and producers
5. Expand IEA System to include China and India
6. Include infrastructure and supply chain
7. Robust markets and flexibility
8. Renewed emphasis on efficiency for both energy and climate reasons
9. Investment flows
10. R&D, technological advance, and new technologies
Compared with his speech at the hearing in 2003, there are too newly-added important concerns: (1) the
expansion of energy security concerns, including the entire energy supply chain and the infrastructure protection
into the framework of energy security; (2) absorbing China and India into the global network of trade and
investment, rather than allowing them to lean to the direction of mercantilism development strategy.
Daniel Yergin, in his speech, also made some comments on new technology and alternative energy. He
pointed out that: (1) one of the most important impacts may come from the application of biotechnology in energy
area; (2) we should take an optimistic view to conventional and alternative energy research and development, at the
same time, we can not confuse future commitment with the new technologies which have been already competitive
and can be widely applied. Significant impact can be made on the security of national energy supply system only
by relying on the latter and through appropriate infrastructures.
2) Kenneth Lieberthal: Chinas Search for Energy Security: Implications for U.S. Poilcy(Kenneth Lieberthal,
Mikkal Herberg, 2006)21
To some extent, this article reflects the US policy-markers understanding, focal points, concerns and logic to
the rapid development of China and its impacts to the United States. This study assists to understand U.S energy
policy, which may improve the chances for the United States and China to build upon their objective mutual
interests in energy security.
The study is divided into four sections. The first section analyzes the internal and external implications of
Chinas so-called go-out strategy and explains why energy security has been taking such an important strategic
seat for Chinese leaders. Section two examines the apparent mercantilism character of the go-out strategy and
concludes that the go-out strategy is much less government-leading, consistent, and strategic than generally
assumed by the U.S. policymakers. The third section assesses the validity and salience of the main concerns that
have emerged among U.S. policymakers regarding the impact on vital U.S. interests from Chinas global energy

21

Kenneth Lieberthal is a political science professor at the University of Michigan, a well-known expert on Chinese issues in U.S. and a
senior director of national Security Council for Asian affairs.

275

search, and splits the issues into energy market impacts and geopolitical impacts. The fourth section outlines the
major challenges to a more constructive dialogue between the United States and China on energy security issues
and proposes specific U.S. policy initiatives to enhance trust in the energy sector and to strengthen multilateral,
regional, and bilateral cooperation on energy issues.
3) Dennis Blair Smooth Sailing The worlds Shipping Lanes Are Safe(Dennis Blair, Kenneth Lieberthal,
2007)22
This article points out that: although the dangers facing long distance oil tanker carriers haunt leaders worldwidely and animate the discussions about naval procurement, in reality the risks for the maritime flows of oil are
far smaller than what is commonly assumed. Firstly, tankers are much less vulnerable than conventional wisdom
holds. Secondly, limited regional conflicts would unlikely lead to seriously traffic, and terroristic attacks against
shipping would have even less economic effect. Thirdly, only the United States has the power to seriously disrupt
oil shipping, but the United States is more likely to protect the shipping on the high seas than to endanger it.
Fourthly, if any country attempted to interfere with international shipping, a coalition would be inevitably formed
to maintain manageable damage to oil deliveries and the global economy. Finally, although all-out wars between
major powers can seriously disrupt maritime shipping, chances of such a conflict happened in the foreseeable
future are fat. This article is important to help us to deeply understand the importance of maritime oil transport
security.
4) Michael C. Lynch The Nature of Energy Security23
The core content of this paper can be summarized from the following four aspects: (1) energy security is not a
long-term interruption, but only a short-term one, and the nature of the energy security problem is not short of
supply but economic; (2) the oil crisis will certainly affect not only some specific countries, but all over the world,;
(3) strategic reserves are the first and primary weapon against oil crises; (4) the role of alternative fuels in
enhancing energy security is rather small, the planning of the development of alternative fuels should be based on
comprehensive benefit and loss analyses. Obviously, spending more money to develop alternative fuels for less
loss due to oil disruption is not reasonable and acceptable.

Energy dilemma of China

Compared with the relatively loose energy and environment condition enjoyed by developed
countries in their industrialization process, China now is facing multi-constraints such as tight
energy supply, strict standard of environmental protection and more and more loud voice for CO2
reduction internationally. The industrialization process and energy development of China cannot
but face these multi-constraints. Under the precondition of supporting economic growth, the
development of energy system of China should at least satisfy the following three strategic
objectives:
1)
Energy saving and energy cost lowering: minimize energy consumption, and at the
same time, minimize the cost of energy supply by continuously lowering the investment and
operation cost of energy system
2)
Energy security: minimize OID to avoid an economic risk of oil crisis or short term
disruptions of oil supply

22

Dennis Blair is former Commander in Chief of U.S. Pacific Command.

23

Michael C. Lynch is a professor of MIT Centre for International Studies.

276

3)
Low carbon: minimize CO2 emission to reduce internationally political and
economical pressure, get looser environment for economic growth and better prestige of being a
responsible country
It is not difficult to find out among the objectives the inconsistency and confliction which are
as follows:
1)
The conflict between energy security objective and the other two objectives: the
most direct method to reduce OID is to develop alternative fuel. Based on business-as-usual
technologies, coal to liquids is the only way to replace oil in large scale. But it will reduce energy
efficiency (about 50%, lower than oil refinery which has 90% efficiency), increase energy cost and
more CO2 emission24. And in a long-term consideration, large scale coal to liquids will bring extra
coal consumption which will influence long-term energy security because coal is the main fossil
fuel China needs and could depend on for longer time scale.
2)
The conflict between low carbon objective and energy cost objective: because of
the high emission factor of coal, low carbon objective request the development of low carbon
energy such as nuclear, hydro and other renewable energy. But generally these low carbon energy
have higher energy cost, and large scale development will definitely increase a lot the capital
investment and cost of energy supply.
3)
The conflict among low carbon, energy saving and energy cost lowering, and
energy security objective: carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is expected to be the most
feasible way of realizing low carbon objective. But it will increase the cost of energy supply a lot
to conflict with lowering energy cost objective, and also increase energy consumption a lot to
conflict with energy saving objective and long-term energy security objective, which is illustrated
in Column C ( Figure 10.9).
The multi-constraints and conflicted multi-objectives of energy development decide that:
China could only seek a balance between these multi-objectives of energy strategy, and it should
always be well recognized in studying and understanding energy problems of China.
Column C: China Energy dilemma: lowering demand vs. energy security & CO2 reduction
(1) Oil Import Dependence (OID) decrease causes higher fossil fuel use and carbon emission;
(2) More Non-fossil fuel use could decrease fossil fuel use and carbon emission
(3) CCS can further decrease carbon emission but cause more fossil fuel use.

24

As roughly estimated, making 1 million ton coal to liquids will consume 3.3 million ton coal (calculated by 43% energy efficiency),
increase 6 million ton CO2 emission(emission factor of coal is assumed to be 2.72 ton CO2/tce, oil is 2.08 tone CO 2/tce)

277

Fossil energy consumption (100

million tce) and carbon emission
(100 million ton)

Fossil fuel consumption and carbon emission of China @2030

Non-fossil power15
Non-fossil power30
Coal power with CCS30

55

Fossil energy
consumption

50
45
Carbon
emission

40
35
30
25
20
30%

40%

50%

OID

60%

70%

Figure 10.9 Illustration of energy dilemma of China

10.2.3 Main solutions of energy problems in China

1 Prioritize energy saving and emphasize controlling the total energy
consumption
If the current trend of economic and social development continues, the total energy
consumption of China will likely to be over 4 billion tce in 2020, over 5 billion tce in 2030, and
over 6 billion tce in 2050. And such huge energy consumption will bring severe pressure to the
carrying capacity of resource and environment in China. So energy saving must be put at the top
priority in energy development strategy.
Considering the huge population and potential of economic growth, China could not take the
reduction of energy intensity as the final embodiment of energy saving, but to more emphasize the
control of total energy demand or energy demand per capita. The control of energy demand should
be carried through both demand side and supply side, while energy saving of demand side is more
essential for peoples expectation of living style and living standard will greatly influence the
growing trend of energy demand. The situation of China decides that its not tolerable to pursue
the living style and living standard of western countries. China should confirm to promote
economical living style and moderate living standard matching with the concrete situation of its
reality.
2 Correctly balancing the relationship of improving incumbent energy and
developing alternative energy
Incumbent energy indicates the dominant primary energy and related energy technologies
used today to satisfy the energy demand of society and economy. The main incumbent energy is
listed in Table. 10.4 and the energy demand is divided into four types by end-use energy carriers:
1) electricity; 2) industrial/domestic fuel and heat; 3) transportation fuel; 4) basic material of
chemicals.
Table. 10.4 Classification of incumbent energy according to different energy demand (energy

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carrier).
Energy carrier

electricity

Industrial/domestic fuel and heat

Transportation fuel

Petro-chemicals

Incumbent energy

Coal power

Coal/biomass directly burning

Oil products

Oil products

It is comprehensible that incumbent energy will stay as the majority of energy fleet for quite
a long time. On one side, they are still the main choice of new added energy devices; in another
aspect, the incumbent energy devices constructed within the last decade will be in service until
2030 or 2040 because they are designed to last for decades. Therefore, improving the efficiency
and cost of incumbent energy should still be the emphasis of energy development in near term and
even in long term. If departing from this emphasis to pursue new energy that may be promising in
the future, it will virtually not only waste time but also bring the loss of energy and economy.
But this does not mean giving up the R&D and deployment of new technologies, or giving up
the efforts to develop alternative energy to adjust energy structure. For the development of
alternative energy, the key is to comprehend its strategic purpose and position, and develop it
orderly and dynamically balanced with incumbent energy. The author suggests dividing alternative
energy into two strategic sorts: expedient alternative and desirable alternative. And their definition
is as follows:
Expedient energy: alternative energy that could reduce the consumption of energy
resource or emission in some level but may bring important negative effects at the same time. For
example, coal to liquids could reduce the consumption of oil resource but increase a lot of CO2
emission and coal consumption.

Desirable energy: alternative energy that could be used in long-term and has less
negative effect to resource and environment. A good example is renewable energy which has
continuously resource and near zero emission in its life time, e.g. wind.

The list of incumbent energy and two sorts of alternative energy in power generation and
transportation sector is shown in Table 10.5. The connotative concept and meaning in it is:
Improving the efficiency and cost of incumbent energy should always be prioritized
while developing alternative energy step by step is also important

The main purpose of developing alternative energy is to resolve or relieve problems

such as tight energy supply, oil security, severe conventional pollution and CO 2 emission. It should
not only meet the urgent requirement in near term but also promote the sustainability of energy
system step by step for long term concern.

In planning and developing alternative energy, it should be differentiated whether it is

expedient or desirable from a strategic concerning, and make it clear in which time scale and on
which kind of problem a certain type of alternative energy is expected to work. Generally,
desirable energy has the advantage of environment friendliness and permanent resource supply,
and worth to be researched continuously and should be developed as much as possible according
to its maturity of technology and energy cost; expedient could meet urgent needs in near term but
will bring some long term negative effect, so it should be developed at a certain scale while
carefully balanced the benefit and cost

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Table 10.5 Incumbent energy and alternative energy in power generation and transportation
sector.
Incumbent

Expedient alternative energy

Desirable alternative energy

energy
Power

Coal steam

IGCC and polygeneration, coal based

Nuclear, hydro, wind and renewable

generation

power

hydrogen power, post combustion CCS...

power

Transportation

Vehicle oil

Unconventional oil, coal to liquids, 1st

Cellulose bio-ethanol, FT bio-fuel,

(ICE)

generation of bio-fuel, hybrid technology

electrical vehicle, H2/Fuel cell

vehicle

Building up new concept and systematic theory of energy security

Figure 10.10 Illustation of enegy security framework and position of alternative fuel

In a narrow sense, energy security is equal to oil security. But it is unilateral to only take OID
as the criterion of energy security. Therefore new concept and systematic theory of energy security
should be built up now in China.
Figure 10.10 shows the national framework of energy security suggested by the author, and it
shows all the influencing factors and their interactions. It could be observed from this figure:
energy security is a complex system with elements of politics, economy, military, transportation
and operation; there are lots of measures to secure energy supply; alternative fuel is only a new
and less effectual method, and it could only benefit energy security slowly and in long-term but
can not solve short term disruption of oil supply and rising oil price.
Therefore, to exploit unconventional oil reserves, stabilize international market, diversify
supply channel, build up strategic petroleum reserve (SPR), and improve energy efficiency are still
the main methods to secure oil supply. In fact, oil import countries could not really depart from
global oil market: they could not replace all oil import by alternative fuel, and on the other hand,
global oil market could not isolate and exclude a country unless extreme situation such as war or
embargo happens. The existence of global oil market should be the basic insurance for oil import

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country. To secure oil supply and to stabilize global oil market together should be the basic
strategy of all oil import countries.
It could be conclude that: though lowering OID could reduce the insecurity of energy supply,
it could not really or totally realize energy security; to take part in and utilize global oil market, to
promote international collaboration to maintain the existence of global oil market and stabilize it
should be the basic method to secure energy supply for each country. So it is urgent now to change
the traditional concept of energy security that is only based on lowering OID, and to build up a
new concept and a systematic theory of energy security. And the key is to coordinate traditional
methods such as stabilizing global oil market and some new methods.
4

Establish systematic strategy of CO2 reduction

The main methods to reduce CO2 emission include: energy saving, developing low carbon
energy and applying CCS. Because the economic cost and resource consumption of these methods
are different, and so are their effects to the development of economy and energy, the strategy of
CO2 reduction should only be established in light of the concrete situation of China and we need to
differentiate the significance of each method.
Among them, energy saving should be the prioritized in CO 2 reduction, and it is a regretless
choice which is also in accordance with all other strategic objectives of energy development.
Besides, developing low carbon energy is another method which should be put forward actively to
accelerate the whole energy system transiting toward low carbon direction. Here low carbon
energy indicate nuclear, hydro, wind and other renewable energy. Though developing low carbon
energy may greatly increase the energy cost, it must be paid to meet the external criteria of
development of society and economy. And the cost is possible to be controlled on an acceptable
level if we carefully design and dynamically adjust the pace and amount of developing low carbon
energy.
CCS has great potential to further reduce CO2 besides energy saving and low carbon energy.
But as mentioned before, it will not only increase the energy cost but also consume much more
energy to influence long-term energy security. Furthermore; it should be mentioned CCS
technology is not yet mature enough and has uncertainties in reliability and effective application.
Based on current level of existing technology and quite limited experience of R&D and
demonstration, it is hard to be proved that CO 2 sequestrated in the geological structure will be safe
and will not leak in the next 1000 years 25 (IPCC, 2007). Therefore, though China should actively
develop CCS to make insurance for CO 2 reduction in the future, it should confirmedly put forward
energy saving and developing low carbon energy at first while taking CCS as the last measure.
With large scale and concentrated CO2 emission, power sector should firstly transit into the
low carbon direction. It seems that even though energy saving and developing of low carbon
energy could reduce CO2 a lot, the total CO2 emission of power sector will still grow up quickly
before 2030 because of rapid growing demand of electricity. If it could not meet the requirement
of CO2 reduction in the future, China cannot but develop CCS to further reduce CO 2 emission of
power sector. And that is why China should still insist on the R&D and demonstration of CCS.

25

Here not leak means the accumulated amount of CO2 leakage in a certain period is lower than a certain fraction
of the total amount of CO2 sequestrated, 1% for example
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10.2.4 The requirement

transportation
1

of

overall

energy

status

to

urban

Releive the pressure on oil supply by energy saving and diversifying fuel types

Driven by rapid industrialization and urbanization, the population and per capita income of
Chinese cities are growing up rapidly and result in the rapid growth of the demand of urban
mobility and proportion of motorization. Chinese cities, especially metropolises, have entered a
process of rapid motorization which brings rapid growth of vehicle population and energy demand
of urban transportation.
Though industry is still the major sector of energy consumption and transportation only
occupies ca. 10% in the total primary energy consumption of China (Li Zheng, 2006),
transportation sector consumes nearly 3/4 of oil products such as gasoline, diesel and kerosene,
and accounts for 40% in the total oil consumption in calories. In the future, the amount of oil
consumption and proportion in oil consumption of transportation will be likely to continue its
growth, and it will bring severe oil security problem and shortage of liquid fuels. It requires urban
transportation not only to promote energy saving, but also to diversify fuel types to change the
situation of only depending on oil products.
2
areas

Strictly control the conventional pollution to improve air quality in urban

With the rapid growth of vehicle population, the air pollution in big cities has changed from
mainly soot-type to mixed type combined by coal burning and vehicle exhausted gas. The vehicle
exhausted gas has become the main source of NOx emission, and the more and more severe traffic
congestion further aggravates the problem. The capacity to control the pollution by vehicle
exhausted gas has become an important criterion urban transportation must satisfy.
3 To implement low carbon mobility step by step to actively respond to global
climate change problem
Though urban transportation will not be the main source of GHG emission whether for today
or for the future, it does not mean urban transportation should do nothing about it. In the
development of urban transportation and urban energy, low carbon should always be taken as the
final strategic objective (WBCSD, 2004), and energy saving and developing alternative fuel
should be actively put forward to reduce the CO 2 emission of urban transportation step by step.
Considering the cost of developing new technology through large scale alternation of technology,
or construction of energy infrastructure, expedient alternatives such as hybrid technology should
be the main choice in near term, and low carbon energy not depending on fossil fuel should be the
long-term choice to realize smooth transition of energy system in the future.
The requirement of overall energy status to the development of urban transportation to
pursuing urban sustainable mobility could be summarized into 4 objectives in order of their
relative importance: (1) Firstly, realize sustainable urban mobility from three layers and two
aspects (as mentioned in above chapter of this book list), to build up an energy-saving
transportation system; (2) Secondly, strictly control conventional pollution; (3) Thirdly, develop
expedient alternative in a certain scale, and diversify vehicle fuel types; (4) Finally, develop
desirable low carbon energy to realize low carbon urban mobility. This illustrated in Figure 10.11.

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Figure 10.11 Requirement of overall energy status to the development of urban transporation

10.3

The fundamentals of sustainable transport energy

development
10.3.1 Bi-directional harmonizing and multi-disciplinary cooperating
The characteristics of the conventional urban transport energy supply and demand mode can be
simply summarized as a one-way demand from the demand side without any feedback restraints.
This one-way relation can be described in detail from the following aspects:
1)From quantity aspect: adequate total and compositional energy supply for the
correspondent demand needs to be satisfied;
2)From space and time aspect: suitable vehicle fuels with easy and convenient accessibility at
the node of the energy supply network over a wide range is required;
3)From fuel supply aspect: fuels from oil resource, such as gasoline and diesel, are requested.
Superficially, the relation between the demand and supply described above seems very
reasonable. As one of the key supporting elements of the transport system, to provide adequate,
timely, and suitable fuels as requested is the vocation for energy supply system. This is a right case
for now, so is for the future. However, energy supply tension, especially the growing oil supply
tension, is an inevitable reality, which obviously hinders and impairs the sustainable development
of urban transport. Therefore, the problem is not about satisfying the requirement to form a
balance between supply and demand itself, but about how to improve the balance. The traditional
one-way demand relation between the transport demand and energy supply ignores or is not fully
aware of the necessity of changing and improving the demand side, resulting in a rapid growth of
transport demand. This not only puts a huge pressure on the energy supply, but also intensifies the
dependence on specified category of fuel, reducing the potential of energy supply to actively
adjust to the demand scale.
Now, it is time to modulate the one-way demand convention order to achieve a sustainable

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development of transport. In addition to improve the conversion efficiency and energy, to enlarge
the supply scale, and diversify the fuel categories from the energy supply side, the demand side
should also control the demand of quantity and compound growth and improve the adaptability of
vehicle on different fuels. This is so called bi-directional harmonizing and multi-disciplinary
cooperating in the present work.
Obviously, bi-directional harmonizing sets the boundary to both transport energy demand
and supply sides: the energy supply needs to meet the demand and simultaneously, the demand
needs to actively adjust itself to release the energy supply pressure. Multi-disciplinary
cooperating includes more stakeholders of the transport energy system to deliberately take
environmental protection, energy security, CO2 mitigation and other main sustainable development
goals into account, find a comprehensive solution with the complete consideration of the urban
planning, transport planning, energy development, environmental protection, automobile
technology, and other aspects of the foundation, laws, problems, and constraints, as well as
efficiently improve the bidirectional relationship between the supply and demand.
To reduce the total amount of energy supply, the transport demand side can make efforts at
least from the following three aspects: The first aspect is to carry out multi-dimension urban and
transport planning including national, regional, urban or even community level, to systemically
avoid unnecessary transport demand, thus reducing the total amount of transport energy demand;
the second is to promote the public transport system by modifying the transportation mode to
systemically reduce the energy intensity; the third is to reasonably and efficiently design, plan and
manage the transport network, reducing unnecessary energy consumption by improving the traffic
condition.
In regard to the vehicle energy resource expansion, it is necessary to develop cleaner
alternative fuels and the matching technology for vehicles.
In terms of energy services quality improvement, it is necessary to build a strategic and
commercial oil reserve system and emergency response mechanism at the national, regional and
urban level to ensure the energy security, as well as continuously improve the quality of transport
fuels with required vehicle technologies.

10.3.2 System optimization and smooth transition

it is almost impossible to realize an absolute sustainable development. The so called sustainable
can be flexibly interpreted as to maximize the available time of conventional energy resources, to
gain time for the invention, development, and large-scale application of desirable alternative
energy technologies with higher sustainability, and to ultimately accomplish the transition to
sustainable energy supply system. From this aspect, sustainability of development strategies or
solutions can be evaluated by measuring the gap between them and the ideal goals.
The bi-directional harmonization and multi-disciplinary cooperation emphasizes more the
coordination of supply and demand and can promote the sustainability to some extent. However,
as the industrialization, urbanization and motorization are still in an ascendant stage of the
dynamic development in China, only coordination between supply and demand is far from being
enough. It is also necessary to examine the nature of the sustainable development from the social
and natural system and life cycle aspects, then to propose a systematic principle of sustainable

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dynamic development.
As described previously, energy supply and services can not exist without infrastructures. The
construction of the infrastructure needs huge economic and energy cost which is a significant part
of the total cost. Therefore, it will not only cause a big social wealth loss, but also a huge energy
loss, if the planning or construction of the energy infrastructures can not accomplish a permanent
application. From this aspect, the development strategy of urban transport energy should not only
concern energy carriers and their conversion and end-use technologies, but also the economic and
energy cost of the infrastructure construction.
Essentially, energy supply for sustainable transport is to select and identify the applicable
energy technology assembles and their transitional developing scheme; and the criteria in judging
the possible options is to evaluate the sustainability of these combinations by taking all the social
and economic development into account from life cycle aspects. Here, the sustainability has been
endowed with more substantive meanings, and it can be defined generally to be all the life cycle of
social and economic costs to accomplish the chosen plan. For quantification, it can be interpreted
as the economic costs to realize the specific scenario, which targets to fulfill the demand for
energy service from unified social production and life standard, for environmental and health
quality, for energy security, for climate change, and for other socio-economic development
objectives. Obviously, an optimal solution should be able to minimize the socio-economic costs
and fulfill the requirements of smooth transition to the sustainable energy system. This is
essentially a multi-objective optimization problem; hence, in the present book it is abstracted as a
basic principle for sustainable transport energy development: system optimization, smooth
transition.
It needs to be pointed out that it is difficult to achieve the ideal optimization with many
uncertainties, but upholding the basic idea for system optimization is always useful and necessary
in energy planning for urban transport development.

10.4

Development trend of transport energy

10.4.1 General judgment on the trend of energy development

mobility
Generally, competition still exists in the global transport energy development between the two
resource-oriented pathways; one is the development of non-oil-derived substitute fuels for
vehicles such as coal-derived fuels, biofuels and NG-derived fuels, and the other is the
development of oil-derived fuels, which is the further development of hard-to-exploit crude oil
resources and non-conventional crude oil resources based on the conventional crude oil
exploitation. Obviously, different resource-oriented pathways match different energy carriers and
powertrains. As shown in Figure 10.12, the possible portfolio of the possible primary energy
supply, the energy carriers, and the powertrains is summarized.

285

Figure 10.12 Transportation energy technology

Currently, the two resource-oriented pathways will probably exist simultaneously in a long
period. However, oil-derived fuels, considering the quantity, will still be the major energy carriers
in the urban transport energy system based on the following three considerations.
(1) Before 2030, world has sufficient oil resource, and China still has some potentiall to
increase domestic oil production;
As shown in Figure 10.13, the global reserves of crude oil, natural gas and coal resources are
still adequate, especially when considering the potential of oil and gas resources and the nonconventional crude oil and gas resources.

Data resourceWorld Energy Assessment 2001, HIS, WoodMackenzie, BP Stat Review2005, BP estimates

Figure 10.13 Global fossil energy resources

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Statistic data from the Ministry of Land and Resources show that the crude oil reserves of
China reaches 89.5 billion tons up to 2007, among which the quantity of extractable reserves reach
25.5 billion tons. However, the approval rate is only 35%, which means there is big potential for
China oil resources exploitation.
(2) There are considerable constraints in developing non oil-derived fuels
As shown above, resistance still exists in the substitute fuels development, because the
development of substitute fuels is not only a fuel producing process, but also a complicated system
project which has crucial interaction with resource, technology, environment, infrastructure, as
well as the social and economic development mode. Any decision and policy on substitute fuels
will significantly influence the social and economic development mode, together with huge
investments and social and economic activities.
Currently, Chinas primary alternative fuel options for vehicles are coal-based, biomassbased, and NG-based fuels, etc. These different alternative fuels have their own advantages and
disadvantages. However, there has not been an alternative fuel that is definitely better than the
conventional fuels such as gasoline and diesel. The overall development status of vehicle
alternative fuels is a passive situation and the development is mainly determined by the
concerns of energy security and needs to address climate change.
Although there are certain social and environmental benefits, restricted by both economic
cost and available resource, the prospect of bio-fules, especially the first generation bio-fuels, can
not be that promising. Currently, restriction order to the development of the first generation biofuels, such as grain-derived ethanol, has been issued by the National Development and Reform
Commission (NDRC) to avoid the competitions for land resources and food resources. The
technology of second generation bio-fuels is still immature, which would need 10 to 15 years of
R&D (Dolf, Fridtjof, 2005). Also, it would be quite unpractical to develop large-scale NG-based
vehicle alternative fuels due to lack of NG resource for China.
(3) Energy infrastructure has far-reaching impacts on future energy consumption mode of
urban transportation.
The transportation infrastructures are very intensive in urban areas, which need very huge
initial investment and large transformation cost and will have far-reaching impacts on the
development of urban transport energy. Although China is vigorously promoting the development
of vehicle alternative fuels, within the next two to three decades, oil-based vehicle fuels will
continue to play a dominant role in urban transportation, determined by the facts that the
conventional auto industry has a huge basic structure which relies heavily on oil-based fuels, and
that there are a large number of oil infrastructures still under construction.
As mentioned, oil-based vehicle fuels will still be the major urban transport fuels for China,
which determines that the internal combustion engine technology will continue to be the basic
vehicle power technology in the future. Therefore, the future energy-saving technology for vehicle
power system should focus on continuously developing and optimizing the conventional internal
combustion engine, and improving its energy efficiency. In the development of new alternative
fuels, it is expected that those compatible with the existing oil-based fuel infrastructures will have
the priority, such as coal to oil, ethanol blended fuel, and methanol blended fuel, etc. Alternative

287

fuels that need independent infrastructures will more likely be developed in regions with
advantages in resources, such as LPG, CNG, LNG, and so on. In long term, pure electric and
rechargeable hybrid vehicles have a bright future, as they can use the widespread existing power
grid as their backing, although the development still depends mainly on vehicle technology
breakthroughs.

10.4.2 Review on alternative fuels

As shown in Table 10.6, vehicle alternative fuels can be classified into two categories: expedient
alternative fuels and desirable alternative fuels. Developed countries have been paying more
attention on desirable alternative fuels under the concern of climate change, and biofuels become a
key direction. However, for China, the mission for alternative fuels carries the mission not only
for longterm sustainable development, but also for mitigating the urgent demand for oil.
Therefore, a parallel development scheme for desirable and expedient alternative fuels is
necessary in China, although, on the strategy planning level, they should be clearly differentiated
by time dimensions.
Table 10.6 Classification of vehicle alternative energy.
Incumbent major energy

vehicle alternative energy

Expedient alternative

Desirable alternative

Gasoline

Coal-derived fuels

Renewable electricity

Diesel

1st generation biofuels

Renewable hydrogen

NG-derived fuels

2nd generation biofuels

LPG

10.4.2.1 Coal-derived fuels

Although Chinas oil reserve is low, it does have coal reserve. Coal accounts for about 80% of
Chinas primary energy consumption. As Chinese economy continues growing, the actual amount
of coal utilization is most likely to rise up. Limited by the oil reserve and production, together
with the necessity of energy security, coal-derived fuels are the inevitable ways-out.
The coal-derived fuels include coal-to- liquid fuels, coal to methanol and coal to DME.
1) CTL: Needs proof on technical and economical feasibility
Although in China CTL projects are strongly supported by government as strategic
investments, they are still facing the following challenges,
Economic: Building a CTL plant with a capacity of 10,000 tons per year would require
an investment ten times that of an oil refinery or other petrochemical plants.

Technology: Although the technology for small scale CTL is well proven, there are big
challenges to enlarge it to industrial scale.

Environmental: CTL project will consume 8 tons of water for each ton of oil product
output, while most of China's coal-rich provinces are short-ofwater.

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2)Coal to methanol and DME: Needs public acceptance

Unlike CTL, coal to methanol and DME are mature technologies with many years of
industrial application experiences, with many types of equipment having already been made in
different scales in China. Methanol shares many characteristics with gasoline. Many regular
engines could be easily adapted to burn methanol as the high concentration ethanol and bio-diesel.
As from some low blend, such as 15% methanol (M15), there is no modification required. For
M85, the engine needs some modification and there are some problems in the coal-start process
that need to be solved. Although there may exist some minor problems, practices have proven the
applicability of methanol for vehicles. Therefore, it is suitable for China to develop coal to
methanol and coal to DME in the rich coal regions. During the first 20-30 years of the 21 st century,
it is feasible to take methanol and DME from coal as transition fuels for China.
Methanol is a most controversial alternative fuel in China. Unlike edible ethanol, methanol is
toxic, so is gasoline. Further more, unlike gasoline or petroleum; methanol is soluble in water and
readily biodegradable by common bacteria. Spills of methanol, whether from defective pumping
stations or shipwrecked tankers, would have no long-term environmental impact. In fact, the
toxicity of methanol may be commonly overstated, and in fact, it is natural in fresh fruits. That
means low doses of methanol have always been a normal part of the human diet. Therefore, to
scale up the methanol fuel in China, nothing but public acceptance is the key issue.
3)Flexible alternative fuels: Assist to mitigate short-term oil supply disruptions
The alternative fuels, such as: coal-to-liquids and biofuels, etc., need higher investment and
longer developing cycle. Once the project is completed, continuous and reliable operation is
required. Hence, it is reasonable for alternative fuels to be operated as a basic load, or solid
alternative, which could help cut down the peak value of oil import and guarantee long-term oil
security, rather than mitigating short-term disruption risk. So, flexible alternative shall be
developed in the long run.
The basic concept of flexible alternative is: in the event of short-term oil disruption, the
products under mass production and for other purposes are temporarily used for vehicle fuels, so
as to overcome immediate risks. A typical example is methanol, which is an important raw
material for chemical production. In 2006, the capacity of methanol reached 7 million ton, and is
expected to increase over 10 times in the future. Flexible alternative can be realized when
methanol-oil fuel vehicles are available. From the angle of medium-term development, flexible
alternative should concentrated on plug-in hydrid and pure electrical vehicles, which may
maintain normal life and traffic state at the event of short-term oil disruption.
Under the guidance of the basic concept of flexible alternative, its agreed that power and
methanol generation through polygeneration is suitable for our development strategy of alternative
energy to safeguard our energy security.

10.4.2.2 Biofuels
Although China regards biofuel as an essential and strategic component of the secure economic
and diversified energy policies, concerns about its impacts on sufficient food supply and
biodiversity have actually slowed its development. The so-called second generation biofuels,
which can be made from Non-food raw materials, are calling more attention and expected to play

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an important role in the future, because they are able to use a wider range of biomass feed stocks
without competing with food production.
Nevertheless, challenges may still remain before the second-generation biofuels can be used
in vehicle application. Up to date, the technology is not mature enough and key technology
breakthroughs are necessary to obtain higher economic- and energy-efficiency. Meanwhile, the
commercialization of second-generation biofuels will also increase the demand of the available
biomass. Cultivating energy crops on set-aside and non-cultivated land will help, but this wont be
sufficient to fulfill all the demand with the available technology. In this regard, biotechnology
could offer a solution by increasing land productivity as well as crop quality, which means more
biomass output per hectare and more fermentable carbohydrates or higher oil content per unit
biomass. As shown in Figure 10.14, the production of the miscanthus cultivated by biotechnology
yielded 17.5 tons per acre, a very large number.
Biofuels are regarded as very good candidates that help reduce both Chinas oil import
dependence and CO2 emission. However, the actual amount of CO 2 emission reduction achievable
by a biofuel largely depends on the detailed processes of the whole life, since energy is required in
raw material growing and harvesting, biofuel converting and distributing. Life-cycle energy
consumption and CO2 emission from biofuels should be thoroughly investigated.

Figure 10.14 An example of energy crop with high productivity

10.4.2.3 NG- derived fuels

NG-derived fuels include CNG, LNG, and GTL. As an environment-friendly "clean energy",
natural gas has been promoted by the Chinese government as an alternative fuel for gasoline.
Currently, CNG bus has been developed in a few cities in China and LNG and GTL are still in
demo phase. However, China does not have a large natural gas reservation and civil utilization has
the priority in using the limited natural gas resources to improve the living standard and air

290

quality. Therefore, NG-derived fuels should be developed in an appropriate scale in some cities
with rich natural gas reserve and in light of this, a large scale spread could be very difficulty.
Moreover, higher cost and fewer filling stations limit the wide usage of CNG in China.

10.4.2.4 Electricity
Electric vehicles have been regarded as a clear strategic direction of powertrain transition all over
the world. They are particularly suitable for used in urban area. It is an opportunity to develop
electric vehicles to catch up the advanced countries for the auto industry of China currently.
The development of electric vehicles relies heavily on the breakthrough of battery
technology. There are two types of electric vehicles: hybrid and pure electric vehicle. It may take
long-term efforts to successfully develop long endurance pure electric vehicles and hybrid is a
much more promising option presently. By combining the advanced internal combustion engine
(ICE) of a conventional vehicle with the battery and electric motor of an electric vehicle together,
hybrids offer an extended range and performance that the customers can expect from a
conventional vehicle. Moreover, hybrids have absolute compatibility with the conventional
petroleum filling stations. It is time for China to develop hybrids now.
The hybrid is a proven technology, but the cost is a challenge. At present, Chinas hybrids are
still in the initial stage of commercialization due to a 30% higher cost than the same size
conventional cars. Nevertheless, the future of electric vehicles is promising. It needs our research
in all related fields such as power grid.

10.4.2.5 Hydrogen
Judging from the current situation in and out of China, a successful deployment of fuel cell
vehicles (FCV) still needs a series of very tough technological breakthroughs, such as H 2
production, distribution, storage, especially on-board storage, infrastructure construction, and
high-price platinum catalyst etc. It is more reasonable to conduct research and set up several
demonstrations at this moment and the commercialization of hydrogen fuel-cell cars still needs at
least 15~20 years. Generally speaking, FCV technology is not ready; it remains to be a long term
option.

10.5

Optimization methodology of urban transport energy

supply
The concept of system optimization, smooth transition has been proposed in Section 10.3.
However, the realization of this concept should be supported by a set of comprehensive
methodology and tools.
As a part of the methodology development, this section shows the theory and methodology in
optimizing urban transportation energy supply, followed with a case study.
The fore-mentioned development direction of urban transportation energy is at the national
level, however, there is not a single solution for the whole country in real-life construction. The
reason lies in: different region has different situations in terms of demand, resource, market, etc,
and all these differences will lead to different optimal supply modes. Therefore, it is necessary to

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determine the optimal urban transportation energy supply mode by taking minimal life-cycle cost,
lowest energy consumption, or least environmental emissions as the optimization objectives in
both temporal and spatial dimensions.
This section starts with an introduction of the general frame of the urban transportation
energy supply optimization methodology, and then describes the key steps within the frame in
detail. At last, a case study is included to show the application of the methodology.

10.5.1 The general frame

optimization methodology

of

transportation

energy

supply

A systematic and comprehensive urban transportation energy supply optimization should include
at least demand analysis, technology assessment, technology choice, infrastructure optimization,
and other basic elements. To meet the sustainable urban mobility requirements from the energy
supply viewpoint, the optimization of transportation energy supply should deal with several new
problems such as the assessment of the potential of new technologies, the prediction of cost and
market penetration of new technologies, all of which endow the optimization of transportation
energy supply with new characteristics. Figure 10.15 shows the general frame of the optimization
methodology of urban transportation energy supply.

Figure 10.15 Optimization frame of urban transportation energy supply

Figure 10.15 shows that the optimization of urban transportation energy supply contains four
steps: (1) urban traffic demand scenario analysis: to obtain the future traffic demand scenarios by
analyzing the social economic statistical data, and to input the total traffic amount and traffic mode
structure into the transportation energy supply technology switch model; (2) analysis of life-cycle
3E (energy, economy and environment) performances of energy supply chain: to analyze both the
incumbent major energy and alternative energy in terms of life-cycle performances to get the
energy, economy and environmental performance data for different fuels as the input of the
transportation energy supply technology switch model; (3) transportation energy supply

292

technology switch: to determine the transportation energy supply technology and development
scale for selected cities in terms of different time phases, by setting the life-cycle optimization
objectives and the calculation of the optimization model; (4) dynamic planning of transportation
energy supply infrastructure: by combining the results from the last step with the detailed
geographic information, to get the optimal solutions for transportation energy infrastructure
configuration in terms of both temporal and spacial dimensions.
Because the transportation energy supply system is one sub-system of the national energy
system, the transportation sector faces constraints from resource, environment and other aspects
brought by the whole energy system. Therefore, the optimization process will come into a
judgment module (the blue diamond in Figure 10.15) to investigate whether the economic,
resource, environmental constraints are satisfied or not. If the resulted transportation energy
infrastructure solution does not meet the constraints, there are two possible approaches to
improve: (1) to change the future traffic demand or traffic mode structure; (2) to further enhance
the R&D activities in order to improve the vehicle and energy supply technologies. The following
contents will apply the above four steps by introducing a case study.

10.5.2 Urban transport demand scenario analyses

Scenario analysis is one of the technological forecasting methodologies (Joseph P.M., 2003). The
so-called scenarios are the possible future cases which are based on some key assumptions such as
economic development and technology progress, and rigorous reasoning and interpretation. As
different modes of development and direction would create different constraints, usually a
scenario can only apply to a certain situation. Therefore, scenario analysis often requires
construction of a number of scenarios to identify one or more of the most reasonable scenarios and
provides reference for decision-makers (Kahn H., Wiener A J., 1968).
The concept of scenario for exploring the uncertainty of future development was firstly used
in a joint project by Rand Corporation and Herman Kahn (Schoemaker P., Van Der Heijden C.,
1992). In the 1970s, the scenario analysis had been widely adopted in business decision-making
process (Wilson I., 1973), the enterprises initial intention of adopting the scenario analysis is to
deal with the volatile political and social environment and to use it as the basis for long-term
planning.
In the past 30 years, the scenario analysis theory has been constantly improved and widely
applied in a number of related policy decision-making process (Juergen G., Alexander F., Oliver
S., 1998). During the process, scenario analysis called for the adoption of a series of steps and the
idea of future impact of various factors. Scenario analysis will help the implementation of the
steps and increase probability of success. In this sense, scenario analysis is not only a prediction
for the future, but also has serious impacts on the future trends.
In order to help the decision-making, the urban transport demand scenario analysis is to
simulate the different future trends of total urban transport demand changes and changes in
various transport modes, which are based on urban socio-economic historical data, vehicle
technical data, and the urban development planning and so on. The author gives a simplified
example and takes the input data from technology choice model (see 10.5.4.3).

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10.5.3 Life Cycle Assessment method of urban transportation energy

supply technology
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool to assess the whole life cycle environmental impacts of
products or industrial processes. The definition (ISO Central Secretariat, 1997) is as following: a
method to summarize and assess the environmental impacts caused by the entire life time input
and output of a product (or service) system. Researchers tend to divide the entire life cycle into
eight phases: feedstock exploration & production, feedstock delivery, facilities construction,
product manufacturing & processing, product delivery & sale, product consumption, product
recycling, and product disposal. The detailed dividing way is somewhat different among different
industries and products.
Generally, there are four sub-systems within urban transportation energy supply technologies:
production sub-system, delivery sub-system, refueling sub-system and vehicle sub-system. The
life time of each of these sub-systems can be further divided into four portions: material portion,
recycle portion, production portion and ending portion. It can be summarized as follows: in space
dimension, the system includes all the portions from feedstock exploration, delivery, to refueling
station and finally conversion to motion energy on vehicle; in temporal dimension, the system
includes all the processes of equipment manufacturing, facilities construction and recycling and
disposal for each spacial portion; in objective dimension, the system includes all the material and
energy flow with all the spacial and temporal processes. The relationship between portions and
sub-systems is shown in Figure 10.16 (Zhang Han, 2005).

Figure 10.16 The relationship between portions and sub-systems

The total energy consumption can be calculated from the energy balance within the entire life
cycle system. The related energy can be classified into three types: (1) the direct energy
consumption of each sub-system, referring to the energy used for equipment running (compressor
power or truck diesel), which belongs to ending portion; (2) the energy contained in the feedstock
of each sub-system, referring to the energy amount contained in the consumed primary energy
during the production process (generally the low heat value), which belongs to the production
portion; (3) the energy consumption during equipment manufacturing, recycling and disposal,
which belongs to material consumption portion and recycling portion.
The environmental performance includes all the pollutant emissions caused by material
consumption and energy consumption through the all life cycle. Similar to the calculation of
energy consumption, the emission calculation also has three types: (1) the direct emissions of each

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sub-system; (2) the emissions caused by the feed stocks of each sub-system; (3) the emissions
caused by equipment processing of each sub-system.
The life cycle cost is the sum of the cost of each sub-system, the cost calculation items
include the O&M cost derived from the feedstock, facilities construction, labor cost and
depreciation period, and the depreciated cost of equipment investment, and also the recycling cost.
Thus, the life cycle 3E performances of each kind of transportation energy can be derived to
feed in the urban transportation energy supply technology switch model of the next section.

10.5.4 Multi-objective decision-making for energy supply technology

selection of urban transportation
As previously mentioned, energy infrastructure and its planning are of great importance. This and
the following section will introduce the approach of the planning of the energy supply system for
urban transportation, which can fulfill the urban traffic demand smoothly and continuously.
For energy infrastructure, there are a variety of energy supply technologies available. In
energy supply technology selection, many factors need to be considered, such as supply cost,
resource consumption, pollutant emissions and so on. Therefore how to select energy supply
technologies is a kind of multi-objective decision-making problem.

10.5.4.1 Multi-objective decision-making methodology

There are many multi-objective decision-making problems in daily life, large scale engineering
systems, and socio-economic systems. Policy makers need to consider how to find a best solution
under the conditions of limited resources. There are two common features in multi-objective
decision-making problem (Xu Jiu Ping, Li Jun, 2006): there is no uniform standard to measure
different objectives, making it difficult to compare them; and the objective is inconsistent to each
other, meaning that improving one objective will deteriorate another. Therefore, it isnt simple to
combine different objectives into single one, and solve multi-objective decision-making problems
using single-objective decision-making method.
There are many methods to solve multi-objective decision-making problems, and the Pareto
optimization method (Pareto) (Sakawa M, Yano H., 1991) is applied in this section. The concept
of Pareto first appeared in sociology and economics, and then it is wildly used in engineering.
Pareto is defined as a state of resources allocation, in which someones situation can be improved
only by deteriorating others situation. For multi-objective decision-making, Pareto is to find an
optimal solution, so that it is impossible to find another solution to improve any objective by not
deteriorating other objectives.

10.5.4.2 Model for urban transportation energy supply technologies selection

To build the energy technology selection model, it first needs to select possible energy supply
technologies for future urban transportation, including current incumbent and alternative
technologies. Nine categories of energy supply technologies are considered in this model: 1)
traditional gasoline and diesel; 2) Natural Gas (NG) and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG); 3)
coal/NG derived methanol; 4) coal/NG derived Dimethyl Ether (DME); 5) coal direct or indirect
liquefaction; 6) first generation biomass fuel, such as grain derived ethanol and oil plants derived
diesel; 7) second generation biomass fuel, such as fibrin derived ethanol; 8) electricity and hybrid
vehicle; 9) hydrogen and fuel cell.

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For the optimization of future energy supply chain, three factors must be taken into account:
supply cost, energy consumption, and environmental emissions during the whole life cycle. So
there are three objective functions in this model, they are total cost C total, total energy consumption
Etotal, and total CO2 emissions Ttotal of the whole life cycle. The total cost includes the whole supply
cost of the urban transportation energy supply system, excluding the cost of vehicle, because such
cost is not generated by the energy suppliers but by the consumers. The vehicle side cost is
estimated in urban transportation demand scenario analyses and the database of vehicle
technologies in the optimization frame. However, the energy consumption and CO 2 emissions of
vehicles are calculated into the CO 2 emissions of total energy consumption, because they are
directly associated with urban transportation. However, conventional pollutant emissions are not
involved in this model, even thought they are similar in calculation and modeling to CO 2. The
formulas of three objectives function are as follows.

Ctotal

Q f ,m ,t (C f ft )
(1 i )t

f , m ,t

Etotal

f , m ,t

/ ( f tf )

f , m ,t

Ttotal

f , m ,t

T f tf

f , m ,t

In addition, there is an important constraining formula, the demand and supply formula as
listed below:

Dm ,t

Q f , m,t m

FE f

The meanings of the symbols and parameters are listed in the following table:
Table 10.7 Symbols and parameters.
Symbols
parameters
f
m
t
i
Q
D
C

FE

and

Meaning

Unit

Fuel type
Transportation mode
Year
Discount rate
Fuel capacity
Transportation demand
Supply cost of fuels
Efficiency of fuel production
Fuel economy
Conversion factor for the carrying
capacity of transport mode
Life cycle CO2 emissions
Technology development factor

MJ/year
km/year
RMB/MJ
MJ/km

gCO2/MJ

As mentioned above, the minimum cost, energy consumption, and CO 2 emissions in the

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whole life cycle are the three optimization objectives of the designed model. But there may be
contradictions among them, for example, low cost technologies may result in bad performance on
energy consumption and environmental emissions. Therefore, there is not an optimal solution with
least cost, energy consumption and emission at the same time, or even just with two objectives.
Three steps are taken in optimizing this model, as shown in Figure 10.17.

Figure 10.17 Three steps of optimization

(1) Single-objective optimization. Three extreme optimal solutions can be obtained by

just selecting one single objective to optimize each time by ignoring the other two.
(2) Double-objective optimization. The model can be optimized for one objective by
changing another objective into the restrictive condition. For example, to optimize both cost and
emissions, the model can be solved by minimizing the cost by setting the restrictive condition that
the emissions are below a certain value. There will be a series of solutions for different emission
limits, and these solutions stand for the optimized cost solutions under certain emission
restrictions.
(3) Tri-objective optimization. Similar to the double-objective optimization, a series of
optimization solutions can also be obtained by setting two objectives as restrictive conditions and
optimizing the third one.

10.5.4.3 Case study of Beijing transportation energy supply technologies

In order to test and validate the technology selection model, we take Beijing as an example to
analyze the energy supply technology selection. In this Case, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2025 and 2030 are
chosen as the set time points, and the optimization objectives are the total supply cost, energy
consumption, CO2 emissions during these 5-year time period.
For the input data for transportation demand, in this case study, the following situations are
assumed: the travel demand of Beijing residents as well as the transport mobility will continue to
grow in this period. The urban transportation has three modes: cars, buses and subways. The
proportion of each mode in the future transportation demand was estimated that until 2030,
subway will burden the major part of transportation demand growth according to the rapid
improvement of Beijings subway and the other two modes will keep the level of 2005. The
capacities of each transportation mode are shown in Table 10.8, which are the inputs for the
technology selection model.
Table 10.8 The history data and scenario of Beijing transportation demand (2005-2030).

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Year

Transportation capacity, (100 million person*kilometer/year)

Car

Bus

Subway

2005

238.97

171.76

29.87

2010

312.77

224.81

78.19

2015

399.68

287.27

149.88

2020

500.91

360.03

250.45

2025

598.80

430.38

374.25

2030

705.86

507.34

529.39

Other input data in this case study are referred to (EUCAR, etc. 2004; Wang Bianqing, etc.
2004; National Bureau of Statistics, 2007). Using the three-step optimization method, three types
of scenarios are analyzed in this case study.
(1) Scenario analyses of single-objective optimization
Firstly, three scenarios appear by separately optimizing each objective: scenarios for
minimum cost, minimum energy consumption, and minimum emissions, as shown in Figure
10.18.

Scenario for minimum cost

Scenario
consumption

Scenario for minimum emissions

for

minimum

energy

Comparison of the three scenarios

Figure 10.18 Scenarios of single-objective optimization

The optimization results show that different objectives will lead to different solutions. For

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example: hybrid and coal derived alternative fuel will be fully developed when supply cost is
chosen as the optimization objective, hybrid will occupy most of the market for its good fuel
economy when energy consumption is set as the objective, and biomass derived alternative fuel
and renewable electricity will play an important role, for their emission advantage, choosing CO 2
emissions is the target. In addition, the comparison shows that there are certain contradictions
among different objectives.
The single-objective optimization results show that each transportation energy supply
technology has its own advantages and disadvantages and their development potential strongly
depend on the development goals of the future urban transportation energy system.
(2) Scenario analyses of double-objective optimization
As mentioned above, there are contradictions among different objectives. There is more work
needed. Here, double-objective optimization is conducted, as shown in Figure 10.19.

Cost vs. emissions

Cost vs. energy consumption

Energy vs. emissions

Figure 10.19 Scenarios of double-objective optimization

As shown, every point in the above three graphics stands for one Pareto optimal solution.
Taking a point in cost vs. energy consumption as example, the energy consumption of this point
means the minimum energy consumption under a limited supply cost.
The figure also shows that the Pareto solutions in the three scenarios have the similar trend,
which indicates that in order to reduce the emissions of urban transportation, we have to increase
the cost or the energy consumption similarly; and to reduce the energy consumption, we have to

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increase the cost.

As shown in the cost vs. emissions: it only demands a small scale of more money to reduce
the emission at the beginning, but the cost will rapidly grow for further emissions reduction. For
example, reducing emissions from 28 million tons to 20 million tons requires about 300 million
additional RMB, but from 20 million tons to 12 million tons asks for about 1.5 billion more RMB.
Therefore, policy makers must consider the sustainability of both economic and environmental
capacities and make balance between the two. The similar conclusion is shown in the cost vs.
energy consumption. In this case, the relationship between low energy consumption and emission
reduction is approximately linear in the energy consumption vs. emissions.
(3) Scenario analyses of tri-objective optimization
Figure 10.20 shows the tri-objective optimization results, and each point in this figure stands
for a Pareto solution under the certain restriction.

5.7
5.70

5.6

5.60
5.50

5.5

5.40
5.30

5.4

5.20
5.10

5.3
5.2

20

300

18

22

310

24

320
330

26
340
350

28

Figure 10.20 Scenario analysis of tri-objective optimization

On the above figure, the point in the black circle is the solution of minimum cost
optimization scenario. With strict requirements from both emissions reduction and energy saving,
total supply cost demonstrates a growth trend. However, there are limitations in the degree of
emissions reduction and energy saving, which is obviously not a matter of big cost. Therefore, the
suitable optimization solution should be chosen according to the actual limitations of the
emissions reduction, energy saving, and supply cost.
Generally, lower energy consumption and higher emissions reduction increase the cost.
Therefore, policy makers should measure the importance of energy consumption, emissions as
well as cost to make a right plan for future energy supply system of urban transportation.

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10.5.5 Dynamic optimization of transportation energy infrastructure

The above-mentioned technology switch model can present us the optimal energy supply mode
and development scale under the energy, emission or cost constraints. However, when considered
on the energy infrastructure level, the construction of energy supply chain relies heavily on the
local situation of the city or around, including the geographic, traffic and resource, etc..
Meanwhile, the large-scale energy infrastructure construction should face the whole country or at
least regional area, rather than the selected one or two cities.
Therefore, when the energy supply mode has been selected, it is necessary to optimize the
energy supply chain on the infrastructure level. Essentially, it is also a multi-objective
optimization problem, since this optimization process needs to deal with the optimal allocation of
different supply and demand sites, the above-mentioned technology switch model can not be used
again, so this section introduces a multi-objective optimization method based on the
superstructure modeling approach, and a case study of hydrogen infrastructure planning is
shown.

10.5.5.1 Superstructure modeling approach

Superstructure is a kind of modeling approach that includes all the possibilities, especially
suitable for solving the energy infrastructure supply chain optimization problem with the
characteristic of combinatorial exploration, and has been currently widely used in supply chain
and process optimization. Most readers are familiar with linear programming (LP), which has a
long established history of providing operational, management and investment decision support in
the processing and energy industries. The standard LP problem can obtain an additional degree of
functionality when some of the decision variables are limited to a discrete/integer domain, giving
rise to the MILP problem. While computationally more intensive, MILP allows various
propositional logical operations associated with strategic decision-making to be modeled. For
example, an integer variable can be defined such that it determines whether a processing unit
should be invested in or not. Because of its capability to naturally capture logical conditions,
applications of MILP have been widespread in areas of investment planning, supply chain and
logistics management, energy industry planning, engineering design and production scheduling
(Hugo A, Rutter P, Pistikopoulos S, et al., 2005).
A superstructure approach serves as the framework for capturing all possible alternatives
and interactions between the various supply chain components. Within the superstructure, a MILP
optimization algorithm searches for the best combinations by eliminating invalid nodes and
pathways (Biegler LT, Grossmann IE, Westerberg AW., 1997).
Here, the authors introduce the urban transportation energy supply infrastructure
superstructure dynamic optimization model by taking hydrogen as the research objective,
Hydrogen has been chosen only because it demonstrates the development of a brand new
infrastructure to be built from scratch. It does not mean that hydrogen should be considered as a
preferred alternative fuel. For other transportation fuels the same optimization method can be
applied.
A hydrogen infrastructure is defined as the supply chain required producing, storing and
transporting hydrogen to the consumer. Like any supply chain it consists of several distinct

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components. Production processes are required to convert primary energy resources into
hydrogen. Storage units and terminals are needed to compensate for fluctuations in demand.
Distribution systems are essential for transporting hydrogen from the production facilities to the
point of sale. Finally, dispensing/refueling technologies allow transfer of hydrogen to users at
forecourt retail stations. There are a set of potential technologies within each component of
hydrogen supply chain. Besides, an additional dimension exists when defining the location of
production within the supply chain.

Figure 10.21 The superstructure model of hydrogen infrastructure

In Figure 10.21 the superstructure representation that forms the basis of the hydrogen supply
model is illustrated. It starts with a set of primary energy resources:
r R := {Natural Gas, Coal, Biomass, Renewable Electricity, }
which can be used as feedstocks for producing hydrogen at a set of s S geographical
industrial sitessuch as refineriesusing any of the large-scale centralized manufacturing
technologies:
j J := {Steam Methane Reforming, Gasification, Electrolysis, }
Each of these production technologies are defined such that they can perform conversion of
primary energy feedstocks into an intermediate energy carrier that is suitable for distribution:
l L := {Compressed Natural Gas, Liquid H2, Compressed Gaseous H2, }
These intermediate carriers are then delivered from the production sites to the set of forecourt
refueling stations (markets), mM, using a corresponding distribution technology:
p P := {Natural Gas Pipeline, Liquid H2 Truck, Compressed Gaseous H2 Tube-Trailer, }
At the refueling stations, the intermediate carriers are dispensed as the final product, namely
hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles, using the appropriate forecourt technology, qQ. This
mathematical representation also allows distributed on-site production to be explicitly considered
as a pathway option. This is achieved by defining the set of forecourt technology options to
include both technologies for dispensing hydrogen received from the central production facilities
as well as technologies for small-scale production:

302

q Q := {Liquid H2 Dispensing, Small-Scale Reforming, Small-Scale Electrolysis, }.

The primary objective of the model is to support the optimal strategic investment planning
and asset management of hydrogen supply chain networks over a long-term future horizon, tT.
The model achieves this by making optimal decisions in terms of four levels:
(1) strategic supply chain design: Selection of primary feedstocks; allocation of conversion
technologies to production siteswhere to install which production technologies; assignment of
distribution technologies to link production sites to forecourt marketswhich markets to supply
with the selected sites.
(2) capacity expansion and shut-down master planning: capacity expansion planning of
production, distribution and refueling technologieswhen to expand which technologies; shutdown planning of production, distribution and refueling technologieswhen to switch production
technologies.
(3) production planning: estimation of how much of each primary energy feedstock the
selected technologies require and what the rates of H2 production, distribution and refueling at
each stage along the supply chain are.
(4) performance index assessment and trade-off analysis: computation of financial and
ecological objectives; multi-objective optimization to establish set of optimal compromise
solutions.

10.5.5.2 China case study of hydrogen infrastructure planning

The above energy infrastructure dynamic optimization model can be applied to different regions or
cities by changing the input data such as economic, resource and geographic information. This
section presents a China case study of hydrogen infrastructure dynamic planning from the country
level.
A key challenge for using hydrogen as fuel is the high-cost of transportation and storage of
hydrogen. Although R&D on innovative solutions is ongoing, there is still a long way to go before
commercially satisfactory solutions are available (R. F. Service, 2004). To deal with this problem,
the authors introduce the methanol pathway into the hydrogen supply chain analysis, that is,
using coal gasification or natural gas reforming technologies to produce methanol centrally, and
transporting methanol by truck to the hydrogen demand areas, then applying onsite methanol
reforming technology to produce hydrogen at forecourt station.
The motivation for this approach arises from three factors: (1) the recent progress of smallscale methanol reforming process made in the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of
China Academy of Science. The main part of the process is steam reforming of methanol
integrated with H2 separation using Palladium membrane. This new process offers low-cost, high
methanol conversion ratio and high hydrogen purity through the process integration of hydrogen
production and purification, with the application of innovative catalyst and Palladium purification
membrane (L. W. Pan, S. D. Wang, 2005); (2) the low-cost of methanol transportation compared
with hydrogen transportation, especially in a long-distance transportation situation (L. Chang, et
al., 2007); (3) the potential continuity of the current and future fuel supply chain. Suffering from
high dependency on import oil, some countries, like China, are developing and promoting

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alternative fuels seriously including coal-derived methanol fuel. The vision this section sets
reveals the potential picture that, current methanol fuel activity is valuable not only for the near
term and medium term energy security problem relieving, but also for a smooth transition to a
possible hydrogen era, with all the infrastructures can be used continuously.
(1)Model input
The case study problem specification is depicted in Figure 10.22. It consists of a China map
where 6 production sites have been identified for the potential installation of central production
technologies. Demand for hydrogen by FCV drivers is expected at 21 major cities with three
different demand level (Early demand, Mid demand and Late demand), acting as the markets in
the formulation. Of the 6 central production sites, C1, C2, C3 and C4 take coal as main primary
energy, also C1, C2 and C3 have some reserve of natural gas; N1 and N2 take natural gas as main
primary energy. Furthermore, model assumes all the production sites have plenty of biomass
resources and non-renewable electricity, while C3, C4, N1 and N2 have power resources derived
from renewables, and C4 also has nuclear power sources. These primary energy availability
conditions limit the technologies that are allowed to be installed there.

Figure 10.22 Case study geographical problem specification

In Figure 10.23 the hydrogen demand forecast for the geographical region over the planning
horizon is illustrated. It shows both the expected number of hydrogen FCVs and corresponding
hydrogen consumptions requirement per year during each of the planning intervals. The longrange planning horizon is defined as the period from 2010 to 2034 divided into 5 intervals of 5
years each.

304

Figure 10.23 Hydrogen demand forecast for the case study

The hydrogen infrastructure technologies superstructure is illustrated in Figure 10.24.

Note: NG = Natural Gas; CL = Coal; BM = Biomass; NR = Non-renewable Power; RE = Renewable Power; NU = Nuclear Power;
Dummy Elec. Non-Renewable = Dummy Non-Renewable Power Plant; Dummy Elec. Renewable = Dummy Renewable Power Plant;
Dummy Elec. Nuclear = Dummy Nuclear Power Plant; CNG = Compressed Natural Gas; MeOH = Methanol; GH 2 = Gaseous Hydrogen;
LH2 = Liquid Hydrogen.

Figure 10.24 Hydrogen superstructure for the case study

(2)Model results
In order to express the impact of introducing methanol pathway, two different scenarios are
set: Scenario A to include methanol pathway (Called With MeOH) and Scenario B to exclude
methanol pathway (Called Without MeOH). Applying the multi-objective optimization
approach to these two scenarios results in two sets of trade-off solutions presented in Figure 10.25.

305

Figure 10.25 Optimal trade-off results for the case study

The two sets of trade-off solutions in Figure 10.25 shows that the largest NPV Scenario A can
achieve is larger than that of Scenario B. And the two sets of solutions merge into one when the
Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions are less than around 0.2 billion tone, because when the
environmental emission constraint becomes stricter, the methanol pathway will be eliminated
from the supply chain candidates, as methanol pathway can no more meet the emission
constraint, and as a result, there is no difference between Scenario A and Scenario B; when the
GHG emissions are more than 0.2 billion tone, Scenario A will offer larger NPV than Scenario B
under the same GHG emission constraint. This means the introduction of methanol pathway
could improve the economic competitiveness of hydrogen infrastructure within a scope of
relatively gentle emission constraint; however, this advantage will disappear when the emission
constraint becomes stricter.
Noting that each solution within the set represents an alternative infrastructure design and
investment strategy, the extent of the compromise between the solutions achieving maximum
return on the investment and minimum GHG emissions can be explicitly quantified. Moving along
the trade-off frontier from one extreme to the other involves a series of distinct infrastructures.
The optimal trade-off frontier can be broken into Infrastructure Solutions based upon the
different feedstock, production, distribution and refueling components of the supply chain that are
consistent over a specific region of the curve (as Scenario A shown in Figure 10.26). Table 10.9
contains the detailed supply chain component descriptions corresponding to these Infrastructure
Solutions of Scenario A.

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NOTE: IS = Infrastructure Solution.

Figure 10.26 Infrastructure Solutions breakdown of the trade-off frontier of Scenario A

Table 10.9 Hydrogen supply chain components for different Infrastructure Solutions in the
frontier of Scenario A.
Supply chain components
Feedstoc

Production

Distribution

Refueling

Coal to MeOH

Truck

Onsite MeOH reforming

k
Infrastructure

Coal

Solution 1

Onsite

non-renewable

water

electrolysis
Infrastructure

Coal

Coal to MeOH

Truck

Solution 2

Biomass

Coal to Liquid H2

Liquid H2 refueling

Biomass to Liquid

Onsite

H2

electrolysis
Truck

Onsite MeOH reforming

non-renewable

Infrastructure

Coal

Coal to MeOH

Solution 3

Biomass

Biomass to Liquid

Liquid H2 refueling

H2

Onsite

water

Onsite MeOH reforming

non-renewable

water

electrolysis
Infrastructure

Biomass

Solution 4

Biomass to Liquid

Truck

Liquid H2 refueling

H2

Pipeline

Gaseous H2 refueling

Biomass

to

Onsite

Gaseous H2
Infrastructure
Solution 5

Biomass

renewable

water

electrolysis

Biomass

to

Gaseous H2

Pipeline

Gaseous H2 refueling
Onsite

renewable

water

renewable

water

electrolysis
Infrastructure

Onsite

Solution 6

electrolysis

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Starting with the maximum NPV strategy (Infrastructure Solution 1) involving only coal to
methanol investment, the optimal transition towards reducing emissions requires the introduction
of biomass gasification as a complimentary production technology and coal to liquid hydrogen
production (Infrastructure Solution 2). Further reductions in emissions can be achieved while
remain cost competitive (Infrastructure Solution 3) by eliminating coal to liquid hydrogen
production while increasing the biomass to liquid hydrogen proportion. Progressively, coal-based
production is totally taken placed by biomass-based technology, the distribution of which includes
both liquid and gaseous hydrogen truck delivery, in order to achieve the desired level of emission
mitigation (Infrastructure Solution 4). Any further emission reduction requires the distribution
component of supply chain transforms to gaseous pipeline delivery from liquid delivery
(Infrastructure Solution 5). The least emission strategy involves only onsite water electrolysis by
renewable power (Infrastructure Solution 6).
To highlight the characteristics of the solution obtained from the model, one of the optimal
compromise solutions is isolated and presented in Figure 10.27. It corresponds to the maximum
NPV solution of Scenario A.

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Figure 10.27 Sample compromise investment strategy obtained from the model

Figure 10.27 shows that, the infrastructure evolution is as follows: (1) when t = t1, while the
hydrogen demand is low and only occurs at E1 and E2, the super metropolis Beijing and
Shanghai, it is not economic to apply centralized production and the onsite water electrolysis is
instead utilized in market places; (2) when t = t2, no other markets become active, E1 and E2
remain the same hydrogen production pattern to meet the demand, namely onsite water
electrolysis, with an increased capacity; (3) when t = t3, besides early markets E1 and E2, all the
mid demand markets become active. The growing demand allows the economies of scale to be
exploited by decommissioning the forecourt onsite water electrolysis and switching to centralized
manufacturing of methanol through coal gasification. Both C1 and C4 are optimally selected as
the central production sites, and the distribution network is optimized based on the flow rates and
distances between the sites and markets, all the markets provide hydrogen to customers by onsite
methanol-to-hydrogen reforming technology; (4) when t = t4, all the late demand markets become
active. Another site C2 is selected to produce methanol from coal centrally. The distribution
network is reorganized through optimization because of the join of C2 site. For instance, M3 and
M9 are not supplied by C1 as they are in t3, but now C2 supplies them instead; (5) when t = t5,
with demand increasing, all the existing production sites increase their capacity. At the same time,
two other sites C3 and N1 start to manufacture methanol and hydrogen respectively, and C3
becomes the main supplier of E1, while C1 shifts its supply to the other markets. Because of the
availability of natural gas resources and short distribution distance to L4, the newly-built N1
supplies natural gas-derived gaseous hydrogen to L4 by pipeline.
To illustrate the capabilities of the model, the results of a China case study have been
presented. Through the study it is shown how the model can identify optimal investment strategies
for a given geographical region. The model functions are mainly reflected at two levels: firstly, at
the supply chain design level, the model addresses the optimal selection of the primary energy
feedstocks, allocation of conversion technologies to either central or distributed production sites,
design of the distribution technology network and selection of refueling technologies; in the
meantime, capacity expansions as well as technology shut-downs are captured to explicitly
address the dynamics of the infrastructure and the timing of the investment. Secondly, at the
supply chain operation level, the model outputs include the estimation of primary energy
feedstock requirements and production, distribution and refueling rates. The methodology and

309

model tools can also be applied to other urban transportation energy infrastructure problems.

10.6

Conclusion

The rapid growth of Chinas economy results in huge and ever-increasing energy consumption,
and it brings severe pressures to energy supply, ecology, and environment. Under the energy
status, the energy development for urban transportation should not only stratify one condition but
multi-constraints. The energy saving, environment protection, energy security, and CO 2 mitigation
have become the necessary contents to realizing the urban sustainable mobility.
To coordinate the development of energy supply and urban transportation, the traditional
one-way relationship must be altered: it not only brings huge pressure to energy supply side
while ignoring or not fully emphasizing the necessary demand side management and overdependence on the improvement of the energy supply capacity, but also limits the active
adaptability of energy supply, being over-dependent on specified category of energy. To build a
bidirectional relationship to support the urban sustainable mobility, the energy development for
urban transport must be guided with two fundamentals: (1) Bi-directional harmonizing and
multi-disciplinary cooperating: it means that besides the improvement of the efficiency, quality,
capacity, and diversification of energy supply, it is also important to control the total demand of
mobility, to optimize the transportation structure, and to improve the adaptability of different
energy from transportation demand side; (2) Systematic optimization and smooth transition:
it means that it is necessary to catch the essence of sustainable development with considerations
from the whole-scope and life-cycle of the society and economy development, and then to select a
feasible portfolio of energy technologies and a continuous and dynamical development scheme.
In terms of guiding the development of transportation energy technology: firstly, considering
that the incumbent energy, oil-based vehicle fuel plus ICE technology, will still serve as the
major part of urban transportation energy and vehicle energy in a long period, the emphasis should
be placed on continuously optimizing and improving the oil supply system and ICE technology so
as to realize efficient and clean utilization of gasoline and diesel; secondly, considering the urgent
requirement of energy security and environment protection, expedient alternative could also be
actively developed according to regional conditions, but its total amount should be strictly
controlled and its benefit and cost be carefully balanced; thirdly, considering the ultimate goal of
low carbon energy, it is still necessary to insist on exploring every type of desirable alternatives to
find the long-term solutions, where the electrification of vehicle power-train should be an
important candidate direction.
In terms of optimizing the energy supply of urban transportation, the multi-constraints of the
development of urban transportation energy must be thoroughly considered, the research scope
should be the whole energy system including sections such as energy exploitation, conversion,
transportation, distribution, and end-utilization, and the matching and optimizing between energy
demand and supply in different time scales must be carefully analyzed. Based on multi-objective
decision-making, the author addresses a set of systematical optimization methodologies suitable
for urban transportation energy supply, which is composed of the following four elements: (1)
scenario analysis of urban transportation demand; (2) life cycle assessment of urban transportation

310

energy technology; (3) multi-objective decision-making of energy technology portfolio for urban
transportation; (4) dynamic optimization of energy infrastructure for urban transportation.

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Beijing Transportation Research Center (TRC), 2006. Beijing transport annual report 2005 [R]. Beijing:
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312

Chapter 11 Urban

Sustainable

Transportation

and

Environment Impact Evaluation

11.1

Overview

of

Environment

Impact

on

Urban

Transportation
Urban transportation impact implies the city, regional and even global environment impact
brought by urban transport activities. Urban transportation activities include traffic activities
within the cities and between city groups, whose environment impacts include air, water, noise and
so on. For road transportation is major passenger and cargo transport way within and between the
cities, this study will focus on the review and analysis on the atmospheric environment impact
brought by road transportation.

11.2

Current Environment Issues on Urban Transportation

11.2.1 History Evolution and Characteristics of the Status Quo

11.2.1.1 Trends of Atmospheric Pollution
Since the industrial revolution, atmospheric pollution has increasingly become one of problems
that influence human health. As the continuous expansion of pollution extents and increasing types
of pollutants, the air pollution also undergoes three stages: local air pollution problems brought by
burning bituminous coal in 1950-60s; regional air pollution brought by acid rain and
photochemical smog in 1960-80s; and global warming brought by ozone depletion in stratosphere
added after 1980s. At present, the local, regional and global air pollution problem is in a complex
interaction and brings compound impact (shown in Table 11-1)
Table 11-1 Trends of air pollution

Period
Polution type

1950-60s
bituminous coal

1970-80s
photochemical smog

After 1980s
global warming

Pollution ext
ents
Pollutants

Local pollution

Regional pollution

Global issue

Sulfur
dioxide
(SO2),
particulate
matter (PM)

Nitrogen oxides (NOX),

volatile
organic
compounds (VOC) and
ozone (O3)

Typical foun
d in

London

Los Angeles

Carbon dioxide (CO2),

methane (CH4), nitrous
oxide (N2O), hydrogen
fluorine carbons (HFCS),
perfluo carbon (PFCS),
sulfur
hexafluoride
(SF6)and others
Antarctic

313

Characterizat
ion

Pollutions
in
specific
area
accumulated
by
pollutants
from
burning coals into
atmosphere
in
condition of low
temperature
and
existing
inversion
layer.

Photochemical smog is
mainly blue smoke with
strong oxidbillity, whose
peak arises at strong
sunlight noon or later and
disappears at dusk. The
pollution
area
often
extends to a few dozen or
several
hundred
kilometers leeward side
of the pollution source.

Control polic
y

Single
pollution
source,
single
pollutant, single city
controlling.

Comprehensive
factors
and
multi-source
pollution controlling

In 1998 the size of

Antarctic ozone hole
broke the record reaching
more than 26 million
square kilometers, 15%
larger than in 1997. The
hole emerged ahead of
usual time and kept stable
in late August. The depth
of the hole is larger than
before
extending
24
kilometers, the ozone in
whose central part is
almost zero.
Combination of socioeconomic, energy and the
environment.

11.2.1.2 Quality Characteristics of Urban Atmosphere Environment

At present, the particulate matter is the major pollutants affecting China's urban air quality. In over
90% of the capital cities, the first air pollutant is PM10. Among the particulate matter pollution,
the most harmful one is fine particulate matter, which is harmful to human health and visibility. It
exist in the atmosphere for long time, thus could affect regional air quality through long distance
transmission. Moreover, different components of fine particles may directly or indirectly affect
regional and global climate. For example researchers found that carbon element in fine particles is
an important factor that affect Chinas regional climate which accelerate south floods and droughts
in the north.
In urban china, the air pollution differs in characteristics along with different city location. In
southern region, the concentration of sulfur dioxide is higher, like the average concentration is
0.065mg/m3 in Chongqing and 0.059 in Guangzhou, higher than northern cities, among which the
Chongqing is higher than national standard limit. The nitrogen dioxides is concentrated in more
developed cities, like Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai all exceed the national standard. In some
cities, the PM2.5 concentration is seriously over standard, of which Chongqing the highest. Its
clear that, as Chinas pollution control on coal-burning, in most cities the sulfur dioxide
concentration can reach national standard and there is still a certain amount of buffer. While the
nitrogen dioxide and PM2.5 is seriously over standards, and the compliant cities are also near the
standard limits.

314

3
NOx

NO2

2.5
NO /SO
2

2
1.5

1
0.5
0
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Beijing
Jinan

Dalian
Shanghai

Guangzhou

Chongqing

Langfang
Ningbo

Taiyuan
Wuhan

Figure 11- 1 Annual NO2/SO2 average curve

The ratio of NO2 over SO2 can directly reflect that whether the air pollution is from motor
vehicles pollution or coal-burning pollution. The higher of NO2/SO2 ration, generally the more
motor vehicle emissions contribute to air pollution. By analyzing the urban air quality monitoring
data (Figure 11-1) in last 10 years, we can see that both the NOX/SO2 ration before 2000 and
NO2/SO2 ration after 2000 are in rising trend. (Note: in 2000, the urban air quality monitoring
data change monitor item from NOX to NO2). Particular in Beijing, Chongqing, Jinan and other
cities, the rising trend is more evident, reflecting the increasing trend of motor vehicle pollution.
Chinas urban agglomerations generally face dust, haze and lowering visibility. Taking Pearl
River Delta cities as an example, in the past 50 years, the Pearl River Delta cities visibility was
significantly declining. Since early 1980s, the regions visibility had rapid deteriorated and dust
and haze increased significantly. The visibility deterioration in Guangzhou area is mainly relevant
with fine particles. Some research results showed that, with rapid growth of economy and
transport in Pearl River Delta, the number of motor vehicle processes increases substantially,
causing increasing concentration of NOx. The secondary fine particles pollution formed from
vehicle emission like NOx, SO2 is the major reason that air visibility in Pearl River Delta has not
been effectively improved. (Huang Jian, 2008)
In recent years, ozone pollution is discovered frequently in large cities. Study shows that
vehicle emissions like volatile organic compounds and NOx is the precursors when forming
ozone. Photochemical pollution is still in growth trends, which extent is spreading from cities to
surrounding regions. (Honghong Yi, 2007)

11.2.2 Urban Transport Systems Impact on the Environment

With Chinas economy development and improvement of living standards, the number of motor
vehicles is increasing rapid, keeping annual growth rate of 13% in recent 10 years. By end of
2006, the total number of auto mobile (including three wheel vehicles and low-speed trucks)
reached 36.9735 million, among which private car reached 23.3332 million (China Statistical

315

Yearbook, 2007, see Figure 12-2). Automobile pollution in many big cities has become the main
source of air pollution (Hao Jiming, 2000), which attracted more and more attention. The
conventional pollutants discharged by automotive and their hazardous are shown in Table 11-2.
Table 11- 2 Emissions of automotive pollutants and their hazardous

Pollutants

Hazardous

NOx

NO has little toxicity itself, but in the air it will be oxidized quickly
into NO2 with great toxicity. NO2 has oxidation feature that can harm
the human lung.
Colorless, tasteless, odorless flammable toxic gas. It prevents
hemoglobin from transporting oxygen to the body, causing lack of
oxygen, paralyzing central nervous system, causing feeling,
understanding and memory dysfunction, and so on.
HC reacts with NOx and generates O3 which is strongly oxidizing,
could seriously damage the lung, causing acute respiratory disease,
and may trigger photochemical smog pollution incidents.
It has critical influence on human health and air visibility. The
surface of PM will absorb other pollutants and bring which into
human respiratory tract causing kinds of hazards.

CO

HC

PM

Contribution
rate on urban
pollutant
concentration
73%
80%

80%

PM10: 7%-14
%
PM2.5: 10-20
%
Monitoring analysis results on key cities suggest that: the concentration level of NO X and CO
is increasing yearly, seriously exceeding national environment air quality standards. It shows on:
NOX is seriously exceeding standard; the CO concentration beside the roads and in trafficintensive areas is exceeding national standard; PM, especially fine particulate matter pollution
could not be ignored; urban ozone is highly exceeding standard with a potential risk of
photochemical smog.
Transport activity and environmental quality is reciprocal, affected and conditioned by each
other, shown in figure 11-2. If we assume transportation as cause and environment quality as
effect, the externality caused by transportation on environment is mainly negative, including local,
regional and global environment impact. Local environment impact includes the noise, vibration
and dust problems due to transportation. Regional impact mainly indicates the increasing
concentration of conventional atmospheric pollutants caused by automobile burning or volatilizing
oil, including Carbon Monoxide (CO), Hydrocarbons (HC), Nitrogen Oxides (NO X) and
Particulate Matter (PM). Global impact consists of emission of greenhouse gases and toxic and
hazardous materials. On the other hand, the environment quality also raises a series of requirement
and constraints to the transport activities, which are mainly reflected in technology, vehicle
amount and vehicle usage. In terms of technology, to protect environment requires the usage of
more advanced vehicle technologies, including engine technology and post-processing technology,
higher-grade unleaded and low sulfur oil. In terms of vehicle amount, it demands controlling the
total amount of vehicles. In usage, we need to limit the usage of motor vehicle by means of
demand side management, and improve the traffic condition and reduce emissions causing by
adverse traffic conditions. All constraints above will increase the cost of possession and usage of
vehicle, and finally bound for transport activities through coercive measures and economics
measures.

316

Environment quality
Emission of
greenhouse gas

Regional

Environment externality of transport activities

Emission of toxic and

hazardous
Emission of conventional
pollutants

Dust

Vibration
Local
Noise

Envi
ron
ment
cons
train
ts on
trans
port
activ
ities

Global

Technology
Advanced vehicle
technologies

Improve oil quality

Control automotive numbers

Possession

Limit the usage

Improve traffic conditions

Usage

Transport activities

Figure 11- 2 Reciprocal impact analysis of transport activities and environment

quality
In China, the technology line of motor vehicle emission control is: eliminate leaded vehicle
petrol, use electronic fuel injection in petrol engine, install three-way catalytic converter, and
widely apply the turbo charter for diesel vehicles. At the institutional level, the environmental
protection departments play a leading role; in technical measures successfully introduce foreign
matured and extensive applied emission pollution control technology. At present, the State
Environmental Protection Administration has gradually developed stringent vehicle emissions
standards, controlling the new cars emissions, forming a complete motor vehicle emission control
system. From 1999 it started to implement new standard that equivalent to European directive I,
known as State I stage. Since then, it gradually established State II, State III and State IV standard.
(See Table 11-3)
Table 11- 3 Light car emission limits and measurement methods

(Souce: GB18352-2005 Standard for light car emissions)

Reference
mass
(RM)/kg

Limit/(g/km)
carbon
monoxide
(CO)

hydrocarbon
(HC)

317

nitrogen
oxide (NOX)

Hydrocarbo
n
and
nitrogen
oxide (HC+

parti
culat
e
mate

L1

L2

L3

NOX)

rial
(PM)

L2+L3

L4

spar
kigniti
on

com
press
ionigniti
on

spar
kigniti
on

com
press
ionigniti
on

spar
kigniti
on

com
press
ionigniti
on

spar
kigniti
on

com
press
ionigniti
on

comp
ressi
onigniti
on

St
ag
e

cate
gor
y

L
ev
el

Typ
e1

All

2.30

0.64

0.20

0.15

0.50

0.56

0.05
0

Typ
e2

RM130
5

2.30

0.64

0.20

0.15

0.50

0.56

0.05
0

II

1305
RM176
0

4.17

0.80

0.25

0.18

0.65

0.72

0.07
0

1760
RM

5.22

0.95

0.29

0.21

0.78

0.86

0.10
0

Typ
e1

All

1.00

0.50

0.10

0.08

0.25

0.30

0.02
5

Typ
e2

RM130
5

1.00

0.50

0.10

0.08

0.25

0.30

0.02
5

II

1305
RM176
0

1.81

0.63

0.13

0.10

0.33

0.39

0.04
0

1760
RM

2.27

0.74

0.16

0.11

0.39

0.46

0.06
0

Type 1: passenger motor cars, not more than 6 seats (including driver seat),the largest total
mass not more than 2500kg. Type 2: besides the type 1 cars, any other light car that among this
standards sphere of application.
Table 11- 4 Implementing date of type sanction

(Source: GB18352-2005 Standard for light car emissions)

Test item

Stage III

Stage IV

Test I

2007.7.1

2010.7.1

Test III
Test IV
Test V

318

Test VI
On-Board
Diagnostics OBD
System Test

Type 1 gasoline car

2008.7.1

Others

2010.7.1

From the year after the implementing date of type sanction provided in Table 11-4, all light
car manufactured and sold must meet emission standards.

Case Study: Beijing's traffic pollution control and atmosphere environmental quality
In traffic pollution management and control, Beijing has always been at the forefront of the
country. In 2004 Beijing promulgated the auto-fuel quality standards. It also respectively
implements the National Stage I, II and III motor vehicle emission standards in 1999, 2002 and
2005. From December 30, 2005 the implementation of National III motor vehicle emissions
standard, it carried out the principles of New cars new standard, old cars old standard that only
new cars that meet the standard could be sold in Beijing. (See Table 11-5) At the same time,
relevant government sector strengthened the vehicles usage management, enhancing intensity of
inspection with trucks coming to Beijing at night, cars not registered in Beijing, buses, taxis and
so on. It steadily eliminates old motor vehicles (by scrapping, writing off and migrating). The
buses lines and number is continuous increasing meanwhile rail transit construction is in progress.
According to air quality requirements from 11th Five-Year Plan environment planning and
hosting the Olympic Games, the State Council approved that from March 1, 2008, any light petrol
vehicles (namely, passenger and commercial petrol vehicles whose largest total mass is less than
3.5 tons) licensed in Beijing should implement the National IV emission standard, meanwhile stop
selling and registering cars do not meet the requirements above. From July 1, 2008, among heavy
vehicles with diesel and natural gas engines, any buses, sanitation and postal vehicles licensed in
Beijing should obey the National IV emission standard and install On-Board Diagnostics (OBD)
to monitoring nitrogen oxides emissions; meanwhile stop selling and registering cars do not meet
the requirements above. Other used diesel and gas engine vehicles still implement the National III
standard.
Table 11- 5 Vehicle emission standard and petrol quality standard

Emission standard planning for new vehicle

Sulfur content standards for fuel in use (ppm)

Standar
d

EU

China

Beijing

petrol

EU-I

Jul. 1992

2001

1999

EU-II

Jan. 1996

2004

2003

500

500

1996

2005

EU-III

Jan. 2000

2007

2006

150

350

2000

2008

EU-IV

Jan. 2005

2010

2008

50

50

2005

EU-V

Sep. 2009

10

10

2008

EU-VI

Jan. 2014

diesel

EU

China

Beijing

1993

319

2005
2008

Under the guidance of scientific concept of development, Beijing exerts itself on building a
harmonious society and actively promotes the strategic concept of New Beijing, New Olympics,
namely, making substantial progress on changing development idea, focusing on coordinated
development, speeding structural adjustment and transformation of the growth mode, and
enhancing urban environment management level, maintain stable and fast economic
development, .steady raising of peoples living standards and further improvement of environment
quality. At the same time, increasing demand for energy, rapid growth in motor vehicles number
and continuous shortage of water resources brings great pressure on the capitals improvement of
environmental quality and ecological conditions. Figure 11-3 and 11-4 reflects the improvement of
Beijings air quality in recent years.

Figure 11- 3 In Beijing, days meet air quality standard increased year by year
recently)
(Source: statistic data of the days meet air quality standard in 1998-2007 disclosed by Beijing
Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau)

320

Figure 11- 4 Days of medium and serious pollution decreased significantly in

Beijing
(Source: statistic data of the days meet air quality standard in 1998-2007 disclosed by Beijing
Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau)

11.2.3 Basic characteristics of traffic environment problem in China

In recent years, urban vehicle number has generally increased, while in some cities the number of
private cars has sharp increased. The contribution rate of auto pollutant emissions increased
greatly thus the urban pollution has changed from coal-burning pollution into combination of
automotive and coal-burning pollutions, among which the contribution of automotive pollution is
increasing. Urban integrated pollution index per unit of GDP shows clear downward trend.
According to finding from urban air quality monitoring in recent 10 years, the NOx/SO2 ratio is
gradually increasing, especially significant in Beijing, Chongqing and Jinan, which reflects the
increasing trend of automotive pollution.
With the gradual implementation of National I, II and III standard, the average emission
factors of automobile is decreased which in a certain degree balanced the exacerbated pollution
from increasing automobiles.
Cities have established vehicle emission annual inspection and road examination system.
However, detection means in most cities is backward, especially in some cities there is black
smoke phenomenon in the heavy vehicles. These vehicles should be strictly controlled.
Although the noise means in urban road can achieve national standards, but in most cities the
main road noise is over standard limit.
On the whole, the basic characteristics of traffic environment problem in China can be
summarized as: the number is generally growing, pollution per car is a bit decreasing; the system
has been established while the means need to improve.

321

11.3

Research Approaches to Evaluate Influence of Urban

Traffic on Environment

11.3.1

Analysis of impact elements of urban traffic on environment

To analysis the relationships between various influencing elements and their impact on
environment is the basis to raise and support various control measures against pollutions caused
by vehicles. In this research an indicator system was set up to evaluate sustainability of urban
traffic from the perspective of its impact on environment.
Impact of urban traffic on environment is decided not only by such internal factors as
pollution control technologies and engine technologies of vehicles but also by external factors like
road plan and characteristics of the city and it is also restricted by the environmental situation and
capacity of the city. Generally speaking, all the influencing elements can be divided into four
patterns as following: (a) fundamental elements regarding urban economy and society; (b)
elements regarding urban environmental conditions; (c) elements regarding development of urban
traffic facilities; (d) elements regarding capacity development for environment protection.
Among all the influencing elements, emission amount from vehicles, which is decided by
several kinds of factors as following, stands at the core position.
(1) Influencing factors related to vehicle technologies including technologies on engine and
emission control as well as parameters like the weight of the vehicle and its engine displacement.
Influencing factors related to vehicles technologies directly influence pollutant emissions of
vehicles which can be greatly reduced with the wide use of advanced vehicles technologies such
as the technology of electronically controlled injection system plus three-way catalytic converter
(TWC) which can reduce vehicle emissions to 10 %20 % of what discharged by vehicles using
carburetor.
(2) Influencing factors related to the use of vehicles including accumulated driving mileage
and maintenance conditions. Research reports shows that the level of pollutant emissions from
vehicles will consistently degrade with the increase of driving mileage, whats more, when a
vehicle is in bad conditions in terms of maintenance and parts adjustment, it, even with less
driving mileage, would discharge pollutants seriously beyond the legitimate quota.
(3) Influencing factors related to the driving states of vehicles including ways vehicles start
( cold start or warm start ), the average driving speeds , loads and operating modes (speed-up
speed-down or idle speed ) of vehicles and climbing the slope.
(4) Factors like the quality of petroleum products as well as temperature and humidity of
environment. The quality of petroleum products can directly impact the pollutant emissions from
vehicles. Nowadays, a lot of researches have been launched by the US, China and some European
countries to analyze the impact of quality of petroleum products on the pollutant emissions from
vehicles of different technological types, in some of which the factor of environmental
temperature has been taken into consideration when setting up models of the pollutant emissions
from vehicles.

322

11.3.2 Summary of research approaches both in China and abroad

11.3.2.1 Summary of frameworks of indicator system

Through nowadays sustainable development has been globally accepted as a goal as well as a
development mode and when it comes to researches on traffic sustainable development, factors
including economy, society, resources and environment are considered to be involved, analytic
approaches and practical applications in researches on traffic sustainable development are still
considerably limited. Here, several conceptual frameworks for environmental indicators
evaluating the levels of sustainability of traffic operation, comparatively mature, will be
summarized, including the PSR Framework from OECD, the DSR Framework from UN
Commission on Sustainable Development and the DPSIR Framework from European
Environment Agency.
The conceptual framework of PressStateResponse (PSR)
Social and economical activities of human beings consistently interact with natural
environment. Human beings get necessary materials and energies from natural resources to
subsist, multiply and develop while discharge wasteful materials and gases to natural environment
in the process of production and consumption, leaving changed recourses stock and environmental
quality which in turn impact human systems and subsistence and development of human beings.
As the mutual interaction repeating, this kind of PressStateResponse relation between social
and economical systems of human beings and natural environment comes into being. So OECD
raised and gradually developed the conceptual framework of PressStateResponse for the
indicator system to evaluate the level of sustainable development, the PSR Framework for short
(demonstrated in Figure 11-5) (OECD, 1993)

323

Figure 11- 5 Conceptual framework of PSR

The PSR model is based on a basic assumption that human activities would pose pressure on
environment and influence the quality and quantity of natural resources. In this model, pressure on
environment, environmental situation and social response can be transferred into various
indicators. The society responds to those environmental changes through changes in
environmental and economical policies, human awareness and actions. The PSR model highlights
above relations and helps policy makers and the public to realize that environment and other
issues are interactive, emphasizing on that excessively increasing economy can lead to
environmental pollution and devastation while environmental protection measures and industrial
structure adjustment can bring improvement to the environment so those issues are closely related
to sustainable environmental goals.
The conceptual framework of DriveStateResponse (DSR)
The conceptual framework of DriveStateResponse is derived from the above PSR
Framework, DSR Framework for short, which is composed of the following elements:
1 Drive Human activities, proceedings and models which will influence sustainable
development.
2State State featuring sustainable development
3Response Policy choices and other responses to changes in sustainable development
In order to cover all newly-added social, economical and institutional indicators, the
Pressure in the PSR Framework is replaced by Drive in the DSR Framework for Drive
refers to impact on sustainable development in both positive and negative ways and these are
exactly ways how the social, economical and institutional indicators impact on sustainable
development. State in the DSR Framework can be used to demonstrate the scientific discoveries

324

in labs in this field to the public and policy makers.

The conceptual framework of Drive PressStateImpactResponse (DPSIR)
As is demonstrated in the Figure11-6, one more item impact is added in the DPSIR
Framework compared with the DSR and PSR Frameworks. All pressure influencing society,
environment and economy will accumulated into a kind of global impact. In the end, various
participants in the process will react to those results, taking a series of actions to change drive,
pressure, state and impact.

Figure 11- 6 Conceptual framework of PDSIR

1Drive refers to quantitative requirements of social manufacturing and service industries

such as GDP, population and volume of households as well as volume of passengers and goods
delivered.
2 Pressure refers to pressure on environment, society and economy during traffic
exploration and use.
3State refers to social, environmental and economical situations which can be utilized as a
scale to features of social environment and economical background in short term.
4Impact refers to global influence of drive, pressure and situation on society, economy and
environment, which is directly triggered by the pressure and situation caused by drive. The scale
covers climate changes and subsequent impact, impact of atmospheric pollution and radioactive
wastes.
5 Response refers responses from different participating cities during their traffic
development.
4. Related researches in China
In 1999, a team led by Wang Wei from Southeast University in Jiangsu Province, PRC
launched a research on the academic system of sustainable development of urban traffic system

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and then raised and identified fundamental principles for models of sustainable development of
urban traffic systems.(Wang Wei, 2004).
According to these established fundamental principles, disparities among different cities in
terms of the citys scale and way of land use should be fully considered to coordinate these
interrelated issues including urban population, land use and traffic model. Resources conditions
for development of urban traffic should be fully considered to reach supply-demand equilibrium,
keeping urban traffic demand from surpassing its supply. Requirements and goals for quality of
urban environment should also be fully considered to prevent the scale of urban traffic system
development from exceeding its environmental capability.
A team led by Dai Yi with the School of Resources and Environmental Engineering in East
China University of Science and Technology (Dai Yi, 2005), starting their research with
sustainable development of urban traffic environment and considering factors such as economy,
society and environment, established the indicator system for sustainable traffic in Shanghai which
was then followed to evaluate traffic operations in Shanghai during 1994 to 2003 and ended up
with specific indicators for sustainable development of traffic during the above 10 years in
Shanghai.
Lu Huapu, Mao Qizhi, Lizheng, He Kebin, Shuai Shijin and Zhang Xiliang from Tsinghua
University launched academic research comprehensively in perspective of multiple disciplines
regarding traffic, energy, environment, auto and policy. Interviews and researches during the first
phase of the research were launched in large scale on current situations of sustainable
development of urban traffic in China. (Lu Huapu, 2006).

11.3.2.2

Summary on how core parameters of the indicator system are collected.

It is the very basis to understand state clearly to do analysis according to above frameworks of
indicator system and when it comes to researches on sustainable traffic, the most direct indicator
to describe state is the volume of pollutant emissions from vehicles. In the following section,
related issues regarding test for vehicle emissions, models of emission factors and pollutants
emission inventory will be reviewed.
1. Methods of emission test
Nowadays, there are mainly two kinds of test methods for pollutant emissions from vehicles,
namely dynamometer test as well as test on real road including experiment in tunnel, remote
sensing test and on-board test. These four testing methods, with different functions and
advantages, can be applied to various researches with different goals (Wang Qidong, 2005).
Dynamometer test: As are operated in labs where researchers can take various experimental
conditions under control and repeat the experiment as they will, dynamometer test is mandated by
laws and regulations as the method to measure emission factors from vehicles. The tested vehicle
is set to drive on a chassis dynamometer according a set working condition (usually the standard
working condition), meanwhile pollutants discharged are collected by testing system. European
countries, US and Japan all established standard emission testing programs of their own one after
another. Main disadvantages of dynamometer test fall on that the testing system is always very

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expensive and emission data of just one tested vehicle can be obtained during every test so the
testing cost is very high.
Experiment in tunnel: During an experiment in tunnel, people measure concentration of
discharged pollutants in and outside the tunnel, combining traffic flow parameters on the spot,
then conclude the average level of emission factors of related vehicles. Currently, many researches
using experiment in tunnel have been launched in China. The experiment in tunnel is easy to
operate and may cover more samples of vehicles, so it can be used to measure average emission
factors when high precision is not required. But unfavorable aspects are that results of experiment
in tunnel are subject to background concentration of atmosphere in and out of the tunnel and
vehicles are only tested under single working condition. (Cheng Y, 2006)
Remote sensing test: Remote sensing technology is a kind of optical measuring method
without tough on the measured items which can be introduced to directly measure tail gas
emission from vehicles in motion, universally adopted in the US and some European countries.
More that 10,000 vehicles can be tested through remote sensing test featuring high level of
automation so the test is used as the main approach to Inspection and Maintenance (I/M) programs
for tail gas from vehicles as well as identifying high-emission vehicles and it is also introduced in
China to measure and research on pollutant emissions. But the adverse aspects of this test lie on
that precision of the test is confined by environmental conditions such as speed and direction of
wind and results concluded from spot tests may not fully cover emissions from vehicles under
various driving conditions.

On-board test. With much more in-depth researches on vehicle emissions, more and more
researchers shift to focus on transient characteristics of vehicle emissions when they are driving on
real road and on-board test on real road gradually become one of popular research fields. Onboard testing instruments are directly installed in tested driving vehicle to collect parameters of its
driving characteristics as well as pollutant discharge rates in every second, providing a great
number of data which truly reflect transient driving characteristics and emissions from vehicles.
Some researchers even think that to some extent, the on-board test can replace the dynamometer
test which is time and energy consuming. At the very beginning, the on-board test was mainly
used for testing parameters and inspecting emissions of vehicles while recently, with improvement
of apparatus in technologies and functions, there have emerged much more products and sets used
in on-board test for researches on vehicle emissions. China just started its research on vehicle
emissions through on-board test system. The drawback of on-board test system is that test results
can not reveal emission levels of all vehicles due to limited samples.

2. Models of emission factors

The main goal of researches on models of vehicle emissions is to find out those mathematical
and physical relations between vehicle emission and related influencing factors. Firstly, on the
basis of physical and chemical principles underlining pollutant emissions from vehicles,
researchers take advantages of various testing methods to judge and recognize main factors
influencing pollutant emissions from vehicles. Secondly, according to these recognized

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influencing factors, they design testing plans to actually inspect how these factors influence
emissions from vehicles. In the end, when enough samples and testing data obtained, researchers
can describe characteristics and regularities of vehicle emissions under different influencing
factors through mathematical statistics and physical analyses, setting up models of vehicle
emissions.

MOBILE and EMFAC are the first two models of vehicle emission factors, developed
respectively by EPA and CARB. They share similar method with which results of dynamometer
test following federal test procedure will go through statistic regression and impact on emissions
by factors like driving mileage, technologies kept by new cars, deterioration factor, driving speed,
temperature, rules of I/ M and quality of oil are comprehensively considered. But, according to
this model, driving characteristic, an important factor influencing vehicle emission, is weakened
for it is replaced by average speed and emission factors under non-F TP working conditions are
calculated with modifying factors about speed. This kind of method, also represented by the
COPERT Model developed in Europe earlier, is highly controversial among researchers both
home and aboard, however, with its less critical requirements on data, the model based on average
speed has strong advantages in simulating emissions by vehicles in macro scale and is applied
widely. In China, researchers have started to calculate vehicle emissions in Beijing, Shanghai,
Nanjing and Macao through modified MOBILE model. (Hu Jingnan, 2004).

Models based on vehicles driving characteristics (working condition model for short
hereinafter) can simulate vehicle emissions under various working conditions according to testing
data during transient emissions.
Recently, a model named IVE has been developed in Univ. of CaliforniaRiverside
(UCR).The core algorithm of this model is base on MOBILE model. With this model, over tens of
thousand sets of data from dynamometer tests following EPA, CARB and UCR are processed and
fundamental emission factors under FTP working condition are obtained. When dealing with
driving characteristics, the IVE model introduced two substitute parameters including VSP
(vehicle specific power) and ES to simulate vehicle emission under non-FTP working conditions.
VSP, from the view of physics, means the ratio of transient output power of vehicle to its weight,
comprehensively covering changes in kinetic energy and potential energy as well as work done to
overcome ground friction and air resistance of vehicles in motion. Advantages of using VSP as
substitute parameter lie on that according to testing results, transient emissions change regularly if
VSP is introduced and VSP is superior to other substitute parameters for changes in speed,
acceleration and road slope grade when vehicles are in motion are comprehensively taken into
consideration in this method.(Liu Huan, 2008)

CMEM model under development by Univ. of California, Riverside is a physical model set
up according to engine load and physical and chemical disciplines explaining formation of
pollutants, with all impact on emissions due to driving conditions considered. Researchers take the
dynamometer test to test more than 300 vehicles of 24 different styles under combined working

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conditions within almost all driving situations, and then the model is established according to test
results. The model, with 47 parameters involved, can precisely simulate pollutant emissions from
vehicles in motion while, however, requiring intense data with high precision.

3. Research on model of vehicle emission inventory

Vehicle emission inventory is formed on the basis of emission factors, combining levels of
vehicle activities to give statistical support for us to know the whole picture of vehicle emissions.
This research is meaningful in that it can support us to make policies related to vehicle emission
and provide supportive data for setting up models regarding air quality. There are three kinds of
emission inventory according to temporal and spatial resolution: the macroscopic emission
inventory, the emission inventory of middle scale and the microscopic emission inventory. The
macroscopic emission inventory focus its researches in the macro territories of nations, regions
and cities while the emission inventory of middle scale focus its researches on urban roads, with
GIS technology introduced to calculate. Compared with the macroscopic emission inventory
model based on average urban vehicle driving characteristics, the emission inventory of middle
scale concentrates on driving regularities of vehicles on different parts of different roads,
simulating emissions through calculating emission factors under certain working condition, which
can in-depth explore impact of urban traffic system on vehicle emissions, support decision-making
on traffic as well as provide fundamental data for urban air quality model matching the resolution.
In the microscopic emission inventory model, emission of one single vehicle in traffic flow is
simulated every second.

11.3.3
11.3.3.1

Research approaches of environmental impact of urban traffic in China

Conceptual framework

In this research, the PSR conceptual framework is adopted in which pressure refers to levels of
social and economic development and traffic demand of the public. Situation refers to conditions
of existing environment quality, use of land resources. Response refers to social efforts to solve
environmental problems related to the above situations, which can be used to appraisal
enforcement of environmental policies. Factors like attitudes of government which dominate these
activities and competence of government to solve these problems are also included in Response.
11.3.3.2

Formation of indicator system

When to evaluate sustainability of urban traffic from the perspective of environment, we must first
establish an indicator system which can objectively reflect traffic sustainable development and its
impact on environment, a practical one to guideline policies so the following principles should be
observed.
(1) Principle of scientific approach
This indicator system should objectively reflect traffic sustainable development and predict
its future tendency to assess realization of traffic sustainable development with reliable statistics
resources and scientific ways of material processing.
(2) Principle of accessibility

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On the precondition of simplicity, indicators easy to calculate and get access should be
chosen to objectively reflect real situations in this field to make sure that the indicator system is
practical for us to make true assessment and evaluation on levels and capabilities of urban
sustainable development.
(3) Principle of comparability
Universally used units, average value or percentage of unit should be introduced as single
indicator in designing indicator system to realize comparability.
(4) Principle of dynamic
Provided that sustainable development is both a goal and a process, indicators on it should be
dynamic so as to reflect current situations and futures of urban sustainable development in terms
of environment, achieving the goal of reviewing the past to analyze the present and to predict the
future.
(5)Principle of guideline
The main goal of this indicator system is to provide government authorities of all levels with
reliable information for them to make related policies while in return macro control and
management from government authorities of all levels is the basis for sustainable development in
traffic of human society, so we must build up an effective and reasonable indicator system.
Based on above principles, we come up with the following indicator system demonstrated in
table 11-6, in which each parameter represents basic datum for evaluation.

AIM
A- To evaluate
urban
sustainable
traffic
environment

Table 11-6 urban sustainable traffic environment

ORGANIZATON
CONDITION
FACTOR
O1-Indicators on C1-Social economy
S1- Pre capita GDP
urban
S2-Percentage of tertiary industry
infrastructure
C2-Population and S3-Population density in central
land use
areas
S4-The green coverage rate in
constructed areas
O2-Indicators on C3-Quality
of S5-Nox concentration in central
urban
atmospheric
areas
environment
environment
S6-SO2 concentration in central
areas
S7-PM10 concentration in central
areas
S8-Percentage of days with API
index less than 100 in one year
C4-Quality of sound S9-Average noise on trunk roads
environment
S10-Average noise in regional
areas
C5-Annual
check S11-Criteria on annual check for
criteria on vehicles
vehicles
C6Volume
of S12-Annual
volume
of
CO
vehicle emissions
discharged by vehicles
S13-Annual
volume
of
Nox
discharged by vehicles
S14-Annual volume of VOC
discharged by vehicles
S15-Annual volume of PM10

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AIM

ORGANIZATON
O3-Indicators on
development of
urban
traffic
utilities

CONDITION
C7-Roads
and
facilities
construction
C8-Vehicle develop
ment

C9-Traffic quality
O4-Indicators on
capabilities for
environmental
protection

C10-Environmental
agencies buliding

FACTOR
discharged by vehicles
S16-Pre capita road area
S17-Road length
S18-Density of road network
S19-Volume of urban vehicle
stocks
S20-Volume of urban new vehicles
S21-Qualification rate of vehicles
going through annul checks
S22-Number of vehicles for public
transport shared by every 10,000
people
S23-Accessibility
S24-Time consumed for transport
S25-Number of monitoring stations

S26Environmental
authorities who reach
the legal standards in
monitoring
urban
environment
and
implementing
annual
check on vehicles
S27-Staff working in environmental
system

Figure 11-7 is added to reveal different levels various indicators above belonging to.

Figure 11-7 Indicator system on urban sustainable traffic environment

Explanations for every indicator in Figure 11-7:
S1pre capita GDP
Pre capita GDP of sample city of the year during which data are collected.
S2percentage of tertiary industry

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Percentage of tertiary industry in GDP

S3Population density in central areas
Population density in central areas refers to population density in urban central areas for
urban central areas always are places more seriously polluted with most vehicle emissions (unit:
10,000 persons/ square kilometer)
S4the green coverage rate in constructed areas
The green coverage rate in constructed areas refers to percentage of green coverage in urban
constructed areas over the whole constructed areas
S5Nox concentration in central areas
Nox concentration in central areas refers to the average concentration of Nox in urban central
3

areas. (Unit: mg / m )
S6Concentration in central areas
SO2 concentration in central areas refers to the average concentration of SO2 in urban central
3

areas. (Unit: mg / m )
S7PM10 concentration in central areas
PM10 concentration in central areas refers to the average concentration of PM10 in urban
3

central areas. (Unit: mg / m )

S8Percentage of days with API index less than 100
Percentage of days with API index less than 100 over total days throughout a year.
S9Average noise on trunk roads
Annual average noise on trunk roads
S10Average noise in regional areas
Annual average noise in regional areas
S11Criteria on annual check for vehicles
Including annual check criteria for vehicles using gasoline and diesel respectively
S16Pre capita road area
Urban pre capita road area
S17Road length
Total length of urban roads
S18Density of road network
Urban road length in per-unit area.

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S20Volume of urban new vehicles

Volume of urban new vehicles can be obtained from vehicle management department
S21Qualification rate of vehicles going through annul checks
Qualification rate of vehicles going through annul checks regarding environment protection.
S23Accessibility
The traffic functions of urban roads lie on that they can provide convenience to people to go
outside. Whether traffic systems function well or bad can be directly reflected on how they can
provide convenience to people to go outside adequately, effectively and coordinately and
accessibility is a critical criterion assessing traffic system functions.
Accessibility can be calculated with following formula in which S refers to accessibility of
urban road network according to length people travel, T refers to accessibility of urban road
network according to time consumed when people travel, sij tij refer to minimum length from
district i to district j or the time consumed for people to finish the same length respectively and

mij refers to number of people traveling from or to district i and district j either of which is
place of living for these tested people.
n

S sij mij
i 1 j 1

mij or T tij mij

i 1 j 1

i 1 j 1

m
i 1 j 1

ij

,in

which

refers

to

accessibility of urban road network calculated with the commuting distance, T refers to
accessibility of urban road network calculated with the commuting time, sij and tij refer to
minimum distance and time between district i and j respectively and mij refers to number of
people traveling between district i and j one of which is the home of these people.
In fact, S and T stands for the average minimum commuting distance and time respectively
both of which reflect convenience for urban residents to go outside. The larger S and T is , the
worse the accessibility is while The smaller S and T is , the better accessibility is. In the same
city, improved traffic system can be reflected on accessibility.
S24Time consumed for commuting.
For physical and psychological reasons, there is always a limitation for urban residents to

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tolerate in daily commuting time. It has been proved that there are distinct differences in the
maximum time to endure among residents with different commuting purposes in different cities of
different scales. The bigger the city scale is, the longer time can people endure during their
commuting. Here we define T , which is longer than common commuting hours of 90% residents
may need, as the maximum length of time acceptable to urban residents for commuting.
S26Environmental authorities who reach the legal standards in monitoring urban
environment and implementing annual check on vehicles
This is a comprehensive concept referring to numbers of units which has reached the
construction standards set by Ministry of Environmental Protection of PRC. Construction
standards can be found in following Notices: Notice to releasing construction standards of
environmental monitoring stations (for trial) (NO. 118 MEP 2002 ), Notice to releasing
construction standards of monitoring stations in radioactive environment (for trial) (NO. 158
MEP 2002 ) and Notice of opinions on furthering enhancing environmental monitoring (NO.
141 MEP 1999 ),
Environmental indicator system evaluating traffic sustainability fully reflect the overall levels
of sustainable traffic environment, which includes index calculated with linear weighting of every
single scalar indicator with the formula as following:
27

C j WU
i
j (i ) 100 , in which
i 1

Wi

refers to weight of every single indicator,

C j refers to

comprehensively evaluating indicator in the j th year and U j (i ) refers to the exponential value
of indicator i in the j th year.
The weight of very single indicator can be calculated with discriminant matrix. Value of each
item in the matrix can be settled by consulting with experts and the square root method is adopted
to approximately calculate maximum eigenvalue and its eigenvector of the discriminant matrix. In
the end, weighting indicator of every single indicator in factor levels to the general aim, which is
evaluating environmental sustainability of urban traffic, can be obtained.

11.3.3.3 Approaches to calculating discriminant matrix

Generally speaking, the method of quantitative research on impact of urban traffic on environment
in China is to establish an evaluating indicator system first and the apply the system to case
studies on cities of different levels to know the situation in environment of urban traffic
development.
The meaning of establishing an indicator evaluating system lies on that it introduces
mathematic tools to analyze those complicated factors influencing sustainable development of
traffic environment through quantitative analysis on their weights to evaluate the current
sustainability of a city and to find out problems. It is helpful to catch the whole picture of
situations and problems in order to improve urban traffic and to scientifically plan future traffic.
In this research, centering on environmentally influencing factors on sustainable traffic, we

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intend to set up indicator system with the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method while
following indicators in environmental plans during the eleventh five-year period.
Steps for system building:
Step one: building up the hierarchic structure of policy making.

Figure 11- 8 hierarchic structure of multi-goal policy making

Step two: framing the discriminant matrix
Suppose that the factor Ck in the C level is relevant to factors including P1 P2 Pn in
the level below, every Pi should get a weight in Ck and the ratio of weight of Pi / weight of Pj is

wi w j ,then a matrix on weight ratio Ck (the discriminant matrix ) is finished.

We can consult with experienced experts in related fields on importance of those factors by
scoring on each factor in order to frame the discriminant matrix.

Step three: calculating comparative weight of each factor in each level.

During this step, we calculate the weighting vector of n factors in the i level, ie, the
maximum value and eigenvector of the discriminant matrix which can be calculated
approximately with square root method for fewer requirements on precision in the AHP method.
Step four: Indicators for calculation consistency.
Because the weight matrix is calculated and formed by consulting with experts, the results
may logically contradict to each other, for example, the product of the three weighting ratios
namely wi w j w j wk and wk wi may not equals one. Here we can get another weighting
matrix Ck ' through back calculation from weighting vectors which have been calculated and
choose the indicator I standing for consistency to reflect the deviation between Ck Ck '

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.Defining I C R in which C (max m) (m 1) and m refers to the order of discriminant

matrix, R alters according to changes in m as following table 11-7

Table 11-7 relations between R and orders of discriminant matrix

10

0.58

0.90

1.12

1.24

1.32

1.41

1.45

1.49

When I 0.1 , consistency is considered to be acceptable or another matrix of this kind

should be established.
Step Five: calculating maximum eigenvalue and its eigenvector.
With the AHP method, the most fundamental task is to calculate maximum eigenvalue and its
eigenvector which is not critical on high precision, for setting up discriminant matrix itself is just a
process to transfer qualitative problems to be quantified, with a certain range of error allowed. So
the square roots method and Asymptotic Normalization Coefficient (ANC) to approximately
calculate maximum eigenvalue and its eigenvector of the discriminant matrix.
Step Six: calculating combined weight of factors of various levels.
In the multi-level model constituted by the aim level A, criteria level C and sub- criteria level
the absolute weight of the criteria level C on the aim level A is

P,

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1)

(1 , 2 ,L L , R )T
The relative weight of n sub-criteria in the sub-criteria level P against every criterion Ci in the

criteria level is

(2)

(1l

(2)

, 2 l

(2)

,L L , nl

(2) T

) , l 1, 2,L L , R

So the absolute weight of every sub-criterion against aim A is Wi ( wi1 , wi 2 ,L L , win ) in

T

which n refers to the total number of sub-criteria in the level P in which i j ij

(1)

(2)

j 1

Till now, through decomposing, analyzing and generalizing, we sequence these complicated
factors which may influence multi-goal decisions according to their own importance to identify
weights of their own, laying foundation for further comprehensive evaluation.
11.3.3.4

Methods for getting core parameters

1. Methods for getting core parameters based on traffic conditions.

Methods for establishing driving condition
A representative driving condition should be established with a large number of data

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collected from real tests. With differences in traffic conditions among different districts of a city,
various running conditions should be collected in advance for a long time if we are going to
establish a driving condition model with length of 900-1200s to cover real conditions of this area.
Here highlights on how to establish a driving condition.
1Principles on choosing urban roads
When we try to establish a typical driving cycle for a city, make sure that the city is
considered as a whole and we must clearly find out the whole structure of the city in order to
divide it into different typical districts from which we pick up representative roads to collect data.
Parameters of regional characteristics in a city may cover such items as social and economic
factors (population, number of registered vehicles and family income), situations on land use (total
area, urbanized area, distance to downtown area and number of residents), conditions of traffic
system (the length of trunk roads in use, degree of crowding and condition of service of public
transport system), composition of ways of transportation (public transportation, privately-owned
vehicles, on foot and by bicycle) and so on.
We may choose the specific road through comparing basic driving parameters on various
roads. Researches show that the average speed plays a big role on the volume of urban vehicle
emissions. So we choose the specific road on the basis of average speeds, considering traffic flow,
degrees of crowding and what extent does it differ in traffic flows between in the mornings and at
nights as well to make sure that the road we choose can comprehensively reflect overall situations
of roads in the city.
2Data collection methods
Now, there are mainly three ways to collect data.
a) Car chase technique, which means vehicles installed with measuring instruments are set
to randomly chase various target vehicles on chosen road, keeping the same performance with
target vehicles, to get related data.
b)

Professional drivers are employed to drive vehicles freely.

c) Let car owners drive their own vehicles installed with measuring instruments to get their
running conditions on daily basis. More precise data are guaranteed with large number of testing
samples during this kind of data collection.
d) To closely follow traffic flow on the set road, just like obtaining the FTP75 driving cycle
on the set road of LA4. First, we should choose a routine representing typical running conditions
and set cars installed with measuring instruments to join the traffic flow and keep driving exactly
as vehicles in the flow do, repeating running back and forth to get test data.
The first three methods all require test data based on samples in large amount, test results of
which may be more close to real conditions while the first method is too critical to drivers skills
to apply and the test results from the second method are subject to drivers driving habits, so it is
now rarely used for its unsatisfactory results, the third one needs more test equipments which may
cost a large number of labor force and materials to maintain. The forth method, though data may
be not so precise as it is with the first methods mentioned above, is easier to apply and less

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money-consuming and it is the method we use for this research.

3Timing for collecting data
From the angle of individual vehicle, background temperatures can to some extent impact
vehicle emissions so running conditions should be collected in all four seasons of a year. There are
considerable differences among average speeds in different times of a day so the times in which
running conditions are collected should cover rush hours in a day which vary in different cities,
such as 08:00-10:00, 12:00-13:00 and 16:00-18:00
4Integrated running condition
The advantages of integrated running condition lie in that the integrated running condition is
more compact and more opera table for dynamometer tests, characteristic parameters matching
those in real running conditions. The technical formation of integrated running condition can be
demonstrated as following.

Figure 11- 9 Technological route for combining driving condition

SourceWang Qidong2005

Ways of collecting emission factors

Vehicle emission factor refers to volume of pollutants emissions when single vehicle runs per
unit mileage or consumes fuels of per unit quality. Vehicles of different patterns as well as
different kinds of pollutants may lead to different emission factors. Emission factors play a big
role in the evaluating system on pollution from urban vehicles because factors can reveal emission
levels of vehicles, providing basis and support to response and control policies.

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Emission factors can be calculated in two ways. One is the g/km method which represents the
quality of toxic gases discharged by vehicles within per unit distance they drive. The g/km
approach is now universally adopted by countries, which however, can not reveal the quality of
discharged gases when the vehicle is in idle speed which is an important running condition when it
comes to emission characteristics of vehicles running on roads. The other is the g/kg method
which represents the quality of toxic gases discharged by vehicles with per quality-unit fuels they
consume, though not sensitive to changes in speeds, providing quality of emissions under any
running conditions for with this method, efficiency of fuel combustion and tail gas emissions are
closely combined.
Factors influencing emission factors include Zero Mileage Level (ZML), Deterioration Rate
(DR), speed, running condition, background temperature, nature of fuel, cold boot-hot boot ratio,
rules on vehicle inspection and maintenance and others like using air-conditioner, load and
whether trailer truck is used.
Emission factors can be collected through bench experiment, test in tunnel, remote sensing
test by roads and test on roads among which the last three methods are all tests on real roads. In
this research, vehicles installed with measuring instruments will be set to run while data regarding
emissions will be collected. This way is more operable with which data regarding pollutants
emission can be collected in every seconds while however only limited number of vehicles can be
tested resulting in random data.
2. Approaches to collecting core parameters based on traffic planning
Most indicators in the indicator system can be obtained from urban statistics while annual
volume of pollutant emissions from vehicles should be calculated by researchers. Basic steps to
settle emission volume for evaluating environmental impact during traffic planning can be
outlined as following:

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Current situations of traffic

Research
conditions

on

working

Traffic planning

Emission factors of vehicles of

patterns

Coupling analysis on emission factors and running

conditions

Select road network

Prediction
condition

on

running

Prediction on vehicles

running
Emission model based on running conditions

Traffic flow testing

Prediction on traffic
flow
Real emissions of vehicles

Prediction on vehicle

emissions

Figure 11- 10 Approach to determine emissions of vehicle

Coupling analysis on urban emission factors and running conditions.
It is very important to choose proper parameters and relate them to emission factors when
researching on the relationships between urban traffic flow and emissions for these parameters can
bridge nature of traffic flow and emissions. Appropriate parameters about traffic flow should keep
features like 1) easy to get through simulation or real tests; 2) Strong mapping Relations can be
found between them and emissions
On literature review, researchers think that parameters listed in table 11-8 are suitable to be
chosen for related research, which can be used to link traffic flow to levels of emission, emission
levels of Gaseous pollutants to emission levels of particles as well as characteristics of traffic flow
to emission levels of particles.

Table 11-8 Parameters on relationship between traffic flow and emission on urban roads.
Parameters

Physical meaning and calculation method

speed
Accerlatio

v
a

obtained from real tests on road

Calculated with speed of every consecutive second.

Specific po

VSP (kW/ton) = v[1.1a + 9.81 (atan(sin(grade)))+0.132] + 0.000302v3

ingal
n
wer

SP
Engine

load

Dischargin
g speed of CO2

O2

ES= RPMIndex + (0.08 ton/kW)*PreaveragePower

PreaveragePower = average value(VSPt=-5sec to 25 sec) (kW/ton)
RPMIndex = Velocityt=0/SpeedDivider
Effect of driving condition during the earlier 25 seconds on current
emission is revealed.
C
It can be obtained through testing single vehicle on real road or be
calculated according to oil consumption.

340

Simulated
value of CO2

C
v,a

Fitting Discharging speed of CO2, v and a to get a fitted formula

regarding v and a, the result of which can be considered ad the simulated
value of CO2

The last two parameters are reserved for predicting emission of particulate matter only.

In 2007, researchers from Tsinghua University launched a emission test on medium-sized

vehicles using diesel with the real road testing system and established a matrix demonstrated in
the Figure 11-11 after analyzing the testing result.
For atmospheric pollutants such as CO, THC and NOx, their liner relevance to VSP and ES is
stronger than that to v and a.
The relevance between particulate matter and traffic flow parameter is not as strong as that
between atmospheric pollutant and traffic flow parameter while discharging speed of particulate
matter is closely relevant to discharging speed of CO2 with a coefficient R2=0.6622, which shows
that relevance between the discharging speed of particulate matter and speed of oil consumption or
discharging speed of CO2.
For good relevance between discharging speed of particulate matter and discharging speed of
CO2, Cv,a, simulated value of CO2 can be obtained through fitting parameters of traffic flow with
the discharging speed of CO2, which may help to strengthen the relevance between discharging
speed of particulate matter and parameters of traffic flow. Results showed that through keeping
good relevance between Cv,a, simulated value of CO2 and discharging speed of particulate matter,
their relevance coefficient amounted to 0.926 revealing similar changing regularities to that
between Cv,a and VSP, so it can not be a independent parameter and during simulation, we just
gave up using Cv,a

341

Figure 11-11 Relevance between performance of vehicle and its emission

Influence of the time lag effect should be considered to better demonstrate micro relations
between selected parameter and specific discharging speed. With analysis on test data we find
that lags of time of VSPES and CO2 is 1s-1s and 0s respectively so VSP in 1s before, ES in 1s
later and current CO2 are the best parameters for emission simulation.

11.4

Case study

We, under the research on sustainable urban mobility program jointly launched by Tsinghua
University and BP, obtained a lot of first-hand data and materials after a short period of spot
interviews and researches in city X. This research, based on materials and data mentioned above,
aims to evaluating current influence of urban traffic on environment in this city through systematic
and scientific approaches to analyze basic materials in order to identify the bottleneck against
sustainable traffic development, predict future tendency as well as raise some suggestions
regarding environment for sustainable urban traffic.

342

11.4.1

General introduction to the city X

The city X has boasted rapid economic progress in recent years. The annual growth rate of GDP in
the tenth five-year plan period reached over 12%. Quality of overall environment in the city X is
nice and it is monitored that in 2006, quality of air, underground water, potable water sources and
acoustical environment of the city X all reach related standards while quality of surface water
improved a lot. But with further economic development and economic goals set down by the
eleventh five-year plan, the city will encounter much greater environmental pressure, so it is
necessary for the city to pursue a sustainable development. Guided by the scientific outlook on
development, policy-makers of the city X are leading the people to follow a sustainable way to
development while there are still lots problems to be solved especially in the field of sustainable
traffic for influence imposed by traffic on environment has not been handled effectively.
11.4.1.1 Rapid economic growth, raised rate of urbanization.

The annual growth rate of GDP in the tenth five-year plan period reached over 12% (see Figure
11-12). In the end of year 2005, the population of all municipal districts has reached 877.8
thousand, going to be a megalopolis, which marks a population more than 1 million and the rate of
urbanization reaches 35.4%. During another five-year plan after the per-capita GDP reached 1000
USD, development of the city X s economy will witness a new round of rising.

Figure 11-12 DGP growth in the city X during 2000 to 2005

11.4.1.2

Environmental quality

Environmental protection is proceeding smoothly with evident outcomes. The city X planed to
build itself to be the national model city in environmental protection in the future three years.
Recently the city has reached legal requirements of 12 indicators out of 27 indicators and there is
still potential for it to improve.
It is monitored that in 2006, quality of air, underground water, potable water sources and
acoustical environment of the city X all reach related standards while quality of surface water
improved a lot.

343

During the tenth five-year plan period, the average composite index on pollution kept stable
with a slight drop while the degree of air pollution kept stable. But the average composite index on
pollution in 2005 drop by 0.76 over that in 2000, which revealed that the pollution degree in the
end of the tenth five-year plan period distinctly dropped than that in the end of the ninth five-year
plan period. The standard-reaching rate of all pollutants generally went up except slightly down in
2003.
Because coal is the major fuel consumed in economic production and daily life in the city X,
air pollution in the city is mainly coal smoke pollution which is also called the reduced form
pollution. Coal burning is the major reason for particulate matter and much so2. Rainfalls always
concentrate in summer in which the quality of air is the best. In winter, more coals are needed for
heating, during which pollutants are not likely to spread because of thicker inversion layer near the
ground in the city. No acid rain has been found in this city till now.
Though with rapid economic growth and increased energy consumption, air quality of the
city X distinctly improved during the tenth five-year plan period and kept stable, owing to
increased emphasis on environmental protection which can be found in following implementing
measures: 1) adjustment on industrial structures including dismantling 40 production lines failing
to stably reach legal standards of 33 enterprises producing cement, shutting down dust emissions
by 24,000 tons per year; 2) further tightening measures on environmental protection including
cracking down grill stands and small boilers leading to serious pollutions by consuming coals,
introducing stoves using oil and gas to restaurants and tightening supervisions on construction
sites to reduce dust pollution; 3) environmental infrastructures are improved. Green cover
percentage in urban areas has reached 35.7%, 80% urban households has used gas in daily lives,
per capita green land has reached 6.5 square meters. All these specific measures guarantee better
urban environment.

11.4.2

Current situations and control measures on vehicle emissions

11.4.2.1 Current situations on vehicle emissions

In recent years, with rapid economic growth and raised living standards of people, there are more
and more vehicles with much serious pollutions in the city, which have become the major sources
of urban atmospheric pollutions.
Statistics shows that in 2006, there were over 90,000 vehicles in downtown areas of the city
X , including over 60,000 cars and over 30,000 motor bikes (see Figure 11-13,14,15). Nowadays,
the annual growth rate of vehicles is around 20%. Only 75% of total vehicles under annual checks
can reach the national legal standards of GB14761.5-93.

344

Figure 11-13 Volume increase of cars during 2000-2005 in the City X

Figure 11-14 Volume increase of motor bikes during 2000-2005 in the City X

345

Figure 11-15 Volume increase of buses during 2000-2005 in the City X

11.4.2.2 Current control measures on urban vehicle emissions

In the city X, supervisions and management mainly focus on making existing and new vehicles
observe legal standards on vehicle emissions.
The government of the city X pays much attention to vehicle emissions and has released a
series of rules on this work.
In 1998, The government of the city X released the Temporary rules on prevention and
control on vehicle emissions while at 11th Dec of 2006, the same government again released
another Notice on further prevention and control on vehicle emissions to intensify prevention and
control on vehicle emissions.
The public security department actively helps the environment department to prevent and
control emission pollutions.
In 1999, the first check, annual check and random check when driving were first launched on
vehicles for their emission pollutions. Those who failed to meet legal standards on emissions in its
first check can not get License Plate from public security department while those who failed to
meet legal standards on emissions in annual or random check would be forbidden to run on roads.
With close cooperation between public security agencies and environment agencies, the Law on
prevention and control over atmospheric pollution of PRC was vigorously implemented and
vehicle pollution emissions were effectively controlled. In 2006, there was 316 days with air
quality marked excellent and good, accounting for 86.6% of whole days in 2006, 1.9% higher
year on year.
However, according to newly divided rights and responsibilities among different government
agencies, now the public security agency is not responsible for preventing and controlling vehicle
pollution emissions. In 2004, testing vehicle pollutions was removed from the responsibilities of
public security authorities according to the Rules on vehicle registration released by the Ministry
of Public Security, so local public security agencies hardly can get support from public security
authorities of central and provincial levels to help environment agencies to prevent and control

346

emission pollution. Since the second half year of 2006, the undertakings of annual check on
vehicles have been nearly stagnated.
The undertakings of preventing and controlling vehicle emission pollution feature
complicated, requiring systematic efforts from environment agencies and other authorities. But
existing related laws and regulations are far from sound and adequate, taking rules mandated in
the Law on prevention and control over atmospheric pollution of PRC for example, the first
section of the Article 31 stipulates that pollutants emission to air from vehicles and ships shall not
surpass the legal standards and the first section of the Article 33 stipulates that vehicles in use
which fail to reach legal standards on pollutants emission in the time they were produced are
forbidden from running on roads, neither of which stipulates sequent liabilities should they break
the rules mentioned above. So the environment authorities can not carry out their work
independently to implement related laws and regulations and need complementary administrative
measures from other authorities.
Pollutions caused by running vehicles discharging black tail gas especially by public
transportation top the problems frequently complained by residents in this city. Some residents
even complained that the environment authority fail to perform its duties to supervise, who
overlook the fact that the environment authority does not have the rights to check vehicles on
roads, to suspend driving licenses even vehicles themselves as well as to pose fine on those
vehicles breaking rules. But in other cities like Beijing, Dalian and Chongqing, supervision on
vehicles is carried out jointly by several related authorities involving public security agency,
transportation agency as well ad the environment agency.
11.4.3 Specific data of environmental indicator system for sustainable traffic in the
City X

The accessibility of data was tested through spot survey and questionnaire and original data were
listed as following in the table 11-9.
Table 11-9.Indicators for the environmental indicator system for urban sustainable traffic (City X)

Indicators for
urban
infrastructure

Indicators for
urban
environment

Indicator
Pre capita GDP
Percentage
of
tertiary
industry
Population density in central
areas
The green coverage rate in
constructed areas
Nox concentration in central
areas
SO2 concentration in central
areas
PM10 concentration in central
areas
Percentage of days with API
index less than 100 in one
year
Average noise on trunk roads
Average noise in regional

2000

2001

2002

5252.05

5650.62

6166.67

yuan

34.5

4205

cap/km

38.74

4030
39.53

4153

Unit

mg/m3
mg/m3
mg/m3
%
69.94

dB(A)

60

dB(A)

347

areas
Annual volume of CO
discharged by vehicles
Annual volume of Nox
discharged by vehicles
Annual volume of VOC
discharged by vehicles
Annual volume of PM10

t
t
t
t

discharged by vehicles
Indicators for
development of
urban traffic
utilities

Pre capita road area

4.42

Road length

206

206

Density of road network

Volume of urban vehicle
stocks
Volume of urban new
vehicles
Qualification rate of vehicles
going through annul checks
Number of vehicles in public

48496

56853

5.54

m2

211.01

km

5.81

km/km2

65693

A vehicle
A vehicle
%

4.17

4.35

transport shared by every

10,000 people
Accessibility
Time consumed for transport
Indicators for
capabilities of
environmental
protection

Number
of
stations
Environmental

monitoring

s
26

26

26

authorities

who reach the legal standards

in

monitoring

environment

urban
and

implementing annual check

on vehicles
Staff

working

in

887

1058

cap

environmental system

Indicators for
urban
infrastructure

Indicator
Pre capita GDP
Percentage
of
tertiary
industry
Population density in central
areas
The green coverage rate in
constructed areas

2003

2004

2005

6839.279

8191.975

9539.705

yuan

34.4

32.0

33.5

4270.588

4942.781

5022.995

cap/km

40.31

39.91

39.59

348

Unit

Indicators for
urban
environment

Nox concentration in central

areas
SO2 concentration in central
areas
PM10 concentration in central
areas
Percentage of days with API
index less than 100 in one
year
Average noise on trunk roads
Average noise in regional
areas
Annual volume of CO
discharged by vehicles
Annual volume of NOx
discharged by vehicles
Annual volume of VOC
discharged by vehicles
Annual volume of PM10

52.2

0.040

mg/m3

0.043

mg/m3

0.093

mg/m3

86.6

55

dB(A)

52.2

dB(A)
t
t
t
t

discharged by vehicles
Indicators for
development of
urban traffic
utilities

Pre capita road area

6.13

6.12

6.41

m2

Road length

223

245.61

206

km

Density of road network

1.2

1.31

3.11

km/km2

Volume of urban vehicle

stocks
Volume of urban new
vehicles
Qualification rate of vehicles
going through annul checks
Number of vehicles for

65178

126654

75

5.51

5.16

5.26

public transport shared by

every 10,000 people
Accessibility
Time consumed for transport
Indicators for
capabilities of
environmental
protection

Number
of
stations
Environmental

monitoring

s
10

10

10

authorities

who reach the legal standards

in

monitoring

environment

urban
and

implementing annual check

on vehicles
Staff

working

in

1208

cap

environmental system
Note:

1.Data regarding NOx concentration in central areas, SO2 concentration in central areas, PM10

349

concentration in central areas, Percentage of days with API index less than 100 in one year,
Average noise on trunk roads and Average noise in regional areas are all kept in the database of
Environmental Protection Bureau of City X and we failed to get these data for recent work
adjustment of this bureau.
2. GB14761.693 is followed during annual check on vehicles using diesel while GB14761.5
93 is followed for vehicles using gasoline in the City X.
3.On accessibility. Indicators of time consumed during commuting relay on great amount of spot
interviews with urban residents which we failed to get as well, however we kept this parameter for
its importance on assessing traffic quality.
4. For those data not obtained, related administrative staffs were required to score them in the
questionnaires.
Seriously lack of data, we spread united questionnaires to related administrative staffs in the
City X, meanwhile providing guidelines and principles for scoring in order to get scores
standardized . For those data which is impossible for us to get, we marked 0. In the end, we got
scores of each indicators of the City X in recent three years as following:

Table 11-10 Unified indicators evaluating system on traffic environment

sustainability in the city X

Indicators
for urban
infrastructure

Indicators
for urban
environment

Indicator
Pre capita GDP

0.25

0.31

0.37

Percentage of tertiary industry

0.16

0.17

0.17

Population density in central areas

0.80

0.80

0.78

The green coverage rate in

constructed areas
Nox concentration in central areas

0.40

0.40

0.40

0.67

0.56

0.78

SO2 concentration in central areas

0.58

0.63

0.68

PM10 concentration in central areas

0.56

0.60

0.56

Percentage of days with API index

less than 100 in one year
Average noise on trunk roads

0.78

0.83

0.86

0.80

0.90

1.00

Average noise in regional areas

0.80

0.90

1.00

0.3

0.3

0.3

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

Criteria

on

annual

2003

check

for

2004

2005

vehicles
Annual volume of CO discharged
by vehicles
Annual volume of Nox discharged
by vehicles
Annual volume of VOC discharged
by vehicles
Annual volume of PM10 discharged

350

by vehicles
Pre capita road area

0.61

0.61

0.64

Road length

0.45

0.49

0.41

Density of road network

0.40

0.40

0.70

of urban

Volume of urban vehicle stocks

0.50

0.40

0.30

traffic

Volume of urban new vehicles

0.60

0.50

0.30

utilities

Qualification rate of vehicles going

through annul checks
Number of vehicles in public

0.30

0.30

0.20

0.20

0.18

0.16

Accessibility

0.70

0.80

0.85

Time consumed for transport

0.70

0.80

0.84

Number of monitoring stations

0.80

0.80

0.80

0.60

0.60

0.60

0.50

0.50

0.50

Indicators
for
development

transport shared by every 10,000

people

Indicators

Environmental

for
capabilities
of

reach

the

authorities

legal

standards

in

monitoring urban environment and

implementing annual

environment

who

check

on

vehicles

protection
Staff working in environmental
system

So we calculated the degree of traffic sustainability in City X demonstrated in Figure11-11

Table 11-11 Scores of environment on sustainable urban mobility in the City X
Year

Score

2003

45.0

2004

47.2

2005

49.8

From table 11-11, we can conclude that at present, the level of traffic environment
sustainability from the perspective of still remain low. But with gradually rising tendency of
indicators of all levels, the traffic environment of the City X is heading for sustainable
development.

11.5

Summary

Impact of urban traffic on environment refers to influence brought by urban traffic activities on

351

urban, regional even global environment. Nowadays, atmospheric pollutions in local areas,
regions and the globe are interacting with each other, leading to mixed influence. Particulate
matter is the major pollutant influencing urban air quality in China with PM10 the primary
atmospheric pollutant in over 90% provincial capital cities in China. Though there are various
characteristics of urban atmospheric pollutions according to different geological locations in
China, it can be concluded that the pollution caused by vehicle emissions is getting heavier after
analyzing data from air quality monitoring in recent years.
The relationship between traffic activities and the environmental quality features interactive,
which means each one can influence, restrict and lead to the other. On one hand, when regarding
traffic activities as the cause and environmental quality as the effect, the environmental externality
caused by traffic activities would pose adverse impact on local, regional as well as global
environment. On the other hand, the environmental quality as well poses a series of requirements
and restrictions on transport activities especially in terms of technology, vehicle stocks and usage.
In China, technological approaches to control vehicle emission include eliminating lead gasoline
used in vehicles, applying EFI and three-way catalytic converter in gasoline vehicles and widely
spreading Turbocharged Technique to diesel vehicles. Institutionally, environmental authorities
have taken the leading role in regulating and controlling pollutant emissions and technologically,
widely-used foreign mature technologies against emission pollution have been adopted.
Analyzing in quantity relations between various influencing factors and their impact on
environment is the basis for raising and supporting control measures against pollutions caused by
vehicles. Impact of urban traffic on environment can be analyzed through setting up a indicator
system to evaluate sustainability of urban traffic from the perspective of its impact on
environment. During the evaluation, we should be aware of that impact of urban traffic on
environment is not only decided by internal factors like engine technologies and pollution
controlling technologies
but also by external factors including road planning, urban
characteristics and current situations and capacity of urban environment. Generally speaking,
these influencing factors mentioned above can be divided into four categories: indicators for urban
infrastructure, indicators for urban environmental situation, indicators for development of urban
traffic facilities as well as indicators for ability development to fulfill environmental protection,
among which emission amount can be regarded as the core factor. The emission level of vehicles
is closely related to influencing factors related to vehicle technologies, vehicle usage and driving
conditions of vehicles as well as factors like oil quality, environmental temperature and moisture.
In this research, we intend to obtain environmental situations supporting sustainable traffic
development through case studies in cities of different levels by setting up an evaluation system
with related environmental indicators. Most of these indicators can be directly obtained from
urban statistics while the annual volume, the key indicator, must be calculated by researchers
through setting up driving conditions, identifying emission factors (through emission test or
emission factor model) and setting up emission inventory.
At the end of this chapter, we focus on relations between characteristics of urban traffic flow
and emissions, the key parts of which we think fall on choosing the proper parameters and finding
out their relevance to emission factors. The right parameters can manage to bridge characteristics
of urban traffic flow and emissions.

352

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Development of Urban Traffic System, Beijing: Science Publishing House, 2004.

353

Chapter 12 Impact of Automobile Technology on Urban

Traffic
12.1

Introduction

Vehicles are playing an important role with the development of the cities despite the rapid
development of the urban public rail transportation. In general, automobiles are playing the
dominant role in the urban transportation. Automotive technologies will directly influence on-road
safety, energy supply and environment. It could also affect the efficiency of the city.
With the development of the ITS (Intelligent Transportation System) technologies and
information technologies of the road traffic, the probability of accidents reduced greatly. In the
future probably it could be guaranteed by the vehicle technologies that there were no collisions or
"zero accident."
Traditional fossil fuels are getting less and less, so people are continuously seeking new
alternative fuels. Hydrogen fuel, bio-fuels and electricity can, to some extent, alleviate the overreliance on fossil fuels, but in order to effectively make use of these new fuels and new energy so
that urban traffic can develop in a sustainable way, we must have advanced automotive
technologies to support it.
Most pollutants in the cities are produced by cars, especially in big cities that are developing
fast (e.g. Beijing and Shanghai), more than 50% of the major harmful pollutants, such as HC,
NOX and PM, are produced by cars.
This chapter will discuss the impacts of the automobile technologies on urban transportation.

12.2

Development of the automobiles in China cities

12.2.1 Fast development of automobiles in China cities

China automobiles are under a stage of rapid development. In 2007, China automobile production
reaches at 8,882,400 with the growth of 22.02% compared with the previous year, sales are
8791500 with growth of 21.84%. Production and sales for passenger cars are 6381100 and
6297500 respectively, which has growth of 21.94% and 21.68% (China Automobile Information
Association). At present, China automobile production and sales are only smaller than that in the
United States and Japan, ranking third in the world. At the end of 2007, motor vehicle population
is 159777600 with the growth of 10.02% compared with the previous year, among which motor
vehicles (including three-wheel vehicles and low-speed trucks), motorcycle population are
56967700, 87096600 respectively, accounting for 90.61% of the country's total vehicle population.
The private vehicle population is 121571500, sharing 76.09 % of the total vehicle population, with
growth of 10.92% compared with the previous year. The population of the private automobiles is
77.73% of the automobile population (Electronic Engineering Homepage). China has become the

354

second biggest car consumer only behind the United States in the world.

Figure 12-1 automobile production in China

Figure 12-2 automobile population in China(Noted: the automobile population including the

three-wheel automobiles and the low-speed tracks since 2006)

355

Figure 12-3 Vehicle population in Beijing (1978-2007.5)

Figure 12-1 shows the growth of the automobile production from 1991 to 2007. Figure 12-2
shows the growth of the automobile population from 1991 to 2007. Figure 12-3 shows the vehicle
population in Beijing from 77,000 in 1978 to 3,000,000 in 2007. It could be seen from the figures
that, China's vehicle production increases greatly since 2002 with the growth of 20% per year on
the average. The private automobile population has excess 35,000,000 in 2007. There are about
1.31 billion people in China, so every 37 people share one automobile on average. Supposed there
are 3 persons in a family, it is that every 12 families share one automobile, i.e. 8% of the families
own automobiles. According to the State Council Development Research Centers research, the
country will become an automobile society if this percentage reaches at 10%-20%. Beijing,
Shanghai, Dongwan, Guangzhou, have reached to or been close to this level (Guangzhou City
Archives building).
The development of the automobiles has promoted Chinas national economy and improved
peoples daily life, but also brought some negative effects, such as traffic accidents, shortage of
energy supply, environmental deterioration and growing of urban traffic congestion, etc. China's
automobiles can not simply follow the way of Europe and the United States. In order to establish a
harmonious and sustainable automotive society, the vehicle design, development, production,
purchasing, driving, maintenance must be considered.

12.2.2 Road safety status

12.2.2.1 Outline of Chinas traffic
Car accidents have become the first public nuisance in modern society, there are about 1.2 million
people died of traffic accidents every year all over the world, it is much more than died from wars,
disasters and diseases, and the number of injured people even reaches to 50 million (Liu
Guangyuan.2004.12). In China the people died from road accidents are the most all over the
world, and the rate of accidents per 10,000 automobiles is 10 times than that in developed
countries. In China among all kinds of accidents, the people died from traffic accidents reach 80%.
Figure 12-4 shows the number of traffic accidents, people died every 10,000 automobiles, the
number of injured and financial losses in the past 10 years (the Ministry of Public Security Traffic
Authority .1998 ~ 2007). As can be seen from figure, 524,500 accidents occurred every year,
11.75 people died every 10,000 automobiles, 429,200 people were injured and 2.345 billion Yuan
of financial losses on average from 1998 to 2007. There are 260 people that die in traffic accidents
everyday in China and road safety has become an urgent and prominent problem.

356

Figure 12-4 traffic safety condition in China(1998-007)

Figure 12-5 traffic safety condition in Beijing (1997-2005)

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Figure 12-6 traffic safety condition in Shanghai (1997-2005)

Figure 12-5 and 12-6 showed the traffic safety condition in two big cities, Beijing and
Shanghai. It can be seen from the figures that from 1997 to 2005, the number of accidents is
20,000 in Beijing and 32,500 in Shanghai; the finical loss is 89.74 million RMB in Beijing and
206.61 million RMB in Shanghai. The number that people died per 10,000 automobiles decreases
since 1998.
The road safety condition in China is serious, especially in the big cities, and the traffic
problems have become obstacles of the urban sustainability and should be paid great attention by
the whole society.

12.2.2.2 Characteristics and causes of traffic accidents in China

In China, road traffic accidents refers to the accidents that are caused by drivers, pedestrians, and
other people on the road that are transport-related who has broken Road Traffic Safety Law of the
Peoples Republic of China, Road Traffic Management Regulations of the Peoples Republic of
Chin and other traffic regulations so that cause body injury and financial losses.

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Figure 12-7 classification of collisions in China in 2004

Traffic accidents can be classified by the participants which are in collisions between
vehicles, collisions between pedestrians and vehicles and collisions between motor vehicles and
bicycles etc. Figure 12-7 shows the classification of the traffic accidents by form in 2004 and the
top three are frontal impact, side impact, rear impact (Traffic Administration Bureau and the
Ministry of Public Security.1998~2007)
Taking 2003 for example, the number of traffic accidents reduced because the SARS. (Figure
12-4) but still remained at a high level. The people died because of the fault of the pedestrians and
bicyclists are 24.6% and 14.1% of the all. It is clear that pedestrians and bicyclists are the main
causes of the traffic accidents, and this proportion is far higher than that in developed countries,
meanwhile the collisions between the vehicles is also significantly more than any other developing
countries. In China causes of the traffic accidents are complicated, and table 12-1 shows the main
causes of road traffic accidents in China (Pei Yulong, Wang Wei. 2004).
Table 12-1 main causes of road traffic accidents in China
classification

type

Mechanical failure factors

Braking failure, poor braking, steering failure, lighting failure

etc.

Motor vehicle drivers

faults

Drunk driving, fatigue driving, furious driving, converse

driving, violation of regulations, carelessness, misjudging,
inappropriate measures, violation of operating regulations,
violation of traffic signals, violation of traffic signs etc.

Non-motor
drivers faults

Drunk driving, over loading, sudden turning, converse driving,

snatch driveway, illegal occupation of motor vehicles road,

human
factors
vehicle

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classification

type
violation of animal force vehicles etc

Pedestrians/passengers
fault
Road condition and environment

Violation of crossing the carriageway, jumping of the vehicles

etc
Road condition, weather, nature disasters etc.

Human factors include drunk driving, fatigue driving, misjudging, violation of traffic
regulations and pedestrians illegal crossing etc. The vehicles faults are mainly the mechanical
failure including the braking failure, steering failure etc. Road conditions include the environment,
such as the bad road condition caused by the bad weather and the bad visibility etc. Social factors
include bad lighting, poor management etc.
Through analysis it is found that among the causes of the accidents, human factors are the
dominant ones. Nearly 90% of the deaths are caused by people and 70% (among the human
factors) are caused by the drivers. The traffic safety consciousness of the participants is weak and
overall quality is low, so most traffic accidents are caused by people. People must be considered
in the traffic safety management and this is the main difference between road traffic safety and
marine traffic safety, air traffic safety. The coordination between people and
machinery/environment is particularly important. From China's geographical distribution for
traffic accidents we can see that traffic accidents occur more frequently in big cities (such as
Shanghai and Beijing). So more attention in management should be paid to these big cities, and
with the development of our country, some middle-size cities will gradually change into larger
ones. Thats why we should first solve the traffic safety and related management problems in the
big cities.
In addition, the quality of the roads has great impact on the traffic safety, there are more
accidents and death on second-class and third-class highway, (there are few accidents on
highways, ?????) however, due to high speed, large flow on the highway, the damages of accidents
are more serious. So highways also need special attention.
Attention should be paid in management (such as strict law enforcement and strengthen
safety awareness education) and technologies (develop automobile safety technologies and traffic
management technologies) in order to reduce the traffic accidents. In one high level forum for the
vehicle safety in Beijing 2007, Nissan Automobile Co. Ltd raised 5 proposals to improve the road
safety in China, including setting the targets of reducing the accident death, the
collection/analyzing/making public of the accidents data, traffic safety education, the design and
construction of traffic facility and introduction of advanced regulations.

12.2.3 Fuel consumption and emissions of in-use vehicles

12.2.3.1 Statistical analysis of fuel consumption about China's passenger cars
According to "Automotive Industry Development Policy" and "Motor Vehicle Production and
Product Announcement", the national development and reform commission has published two
batches of data about fuel consumption of the passenger cars which have already been certificated
in October 2006 and July 2007. The first published cars are of 409 types from 34 enterprises.
Among them 2374 types of Cars from 95 enterprises meet the standards of the fuel consumption

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limits of passenger cars, and 444 types of cars from 55 enterprises can not meet the standards.

Figure 12-8 statistical results in fuel consumption from the newly produced
passenger cars
The test method for passenger cars fuel consumption is based on GB / T 19233-2003 "Light
Duty Vehicle Fuel Consumption Test Method", and the cars are tested on the cell to get the
comprehensive fuel consumption in the city cycle and EUDC (extra urban driving cycle). Figure
12-8 shows the statistical fuel consumption result from the two batches of 2783 types of car
information that are released by the Development and Reform Commission. From the figure it can
be seen that the total masses of the second batch of cars are increased, mainly because the number
of luxury cars, SUV, MPV and minibuses has greatly increased. The fuel consumption of the
passenger cars increases with the increase of the masses. Although the cars promulgated can meet
the fuel consumption standard for the first step and a lot of cars can meet the second step, there are
still a lot of cars that can not meet the second step standard. The latest produced passenger cars
must meet the second step standard from 1/1/2009, so a lot of domestic automobile enterprises are
facing the pressure to use advanced automotive technologies to reduce the fuel consumption
during a short period of time. At the same time, they also meet the dual pressure of the strict
regulations and the reduction of the cost.

12.2.3.2 Emissions about in-use vehicles in China

There is still a big gap between China and the developed countries about automobile emissions.
Figure 12-9 shows the emissions of various types of motor vehicles from 2002 to 2006 detected by
State Environmental Protection Administration of motor vehicle emissions control centre. (Ni
Hong. 12/7/2006)

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Figure 12-9 emissions about various types of motor vehicles

The distribution of the motor vehicles is that light gasoline vehicles accounted for 13.33%,
light diesel vehicles account for 5.21%, heavy gasoline vehicles accounted for 1.06%, heavy
diesel vehicles account for 59.95%t, heavy gasoline vehicles accounted for 0.01%, heavy-duty
diesel vehicles accounting for 1.78%, motorcycles and mopeds accounted for 17.17%, heavy-duty
gas vehicles and engines account for 0.69%, three wheel vehicles and low-speed trucks accounted
for 0.79%. Only 23665 vehicles from 94582 types meet the standard of phase one emission
regulations (equal to Euro I regulations), which accounts for 25% and 65964 vehicles from 94582
types meet the standard of phase two emission regulations (equal to Euro II regulations), which
accounts for 70%. Only 5% (4953 vehicles from 94582 types) meet the standard of phase three
emission regulations (equal to Euro III regulations).
As the production and sales of automobiles in China developed fast from 2002 to 2006
(showed in Figure 12-1 and 12-2), the vehicles mentioned above are in-use vehicles on the roads
now, so the emissions of these vehicles reflect the emission condition about Chinas passenger
cars for the recent 5 years (the real condition should be even worse).

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Figure 12-10 emission condition in Beijing

Beijing has the largest population of motor vehicles and also is the most polluted city. Figure
12-10 shows the emission of vehicles in Beijing till the end of 2006 (Beijing Environmental
Protection Agency. 12/13/2006), most vehicles (44%) meet the Euro II standard, and only 1% of
them can meet the Euro III standard. Cars that did not pass the regulations and were called
labeled-yellow cars accounted for 1/3. Figure 12-11 is the distribution of vehicle emissions in
Beijing ((Beijing Environmental Protection Agency. 12/13/2006). CO emission from the
automobiles accounts for 92% of the total CO emission, NOx and THC share 64% and 51%
respectively. Automobiles are the main source of the air pollutions. Figure 12-2 shows the
development of total NO2 and PM10 emissions (Beijing Environmental Protection Agency.
12/13/2006). Despite the rapid growth of motor vehicles in Beijing, the amount of NO2 and PM10
emissions remains and motor vehicle emissions have been controlled in some extend.

Figure 12-11 emission distribution about vehicles in Beijing

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Figure 12-12 the trend of NO2 and PM10 emissions

It can be seen from above figures that China's automobile fuel consumption and emission
levels are not optimistic, and there is still a big gap with the developed countries. It is important
for China in the future to find a reasonable energy-saving method to reduce the pollution.

12.3

Development of energy saving and clean fuel for urban

transport
It is clear that urban transportation in China will face the great challenges on road traffic safety,
fuel consumption, emissions and so on. So we must find ways to make the automobiles clean and
energy-saving by means of choosing the right traffic tools macroscopically and developing
advanced automobile technologies etc. Three aspects will be discussed in this section: in the field
of the urban traffic construction, traffic tools that meet the requirement of the sustainable urban
mobility should be chosen; in the field of automobile power technologies, traditional vehicles and
vehicles with new type of energy should both be paid great attention to. The traditional vehicles
should apply on advanced technologies and the new energy vehicles should be popularized ;
considering the ITS (intelligent transportation technology), on board equipments, automobile
controlling system and safety system technologies should be developed and applied in order to
make the ITS more swift, accurate, safe, convenient and comfortable.

12.3.1 Reasonable construction of sustainable urban transportation

Many factors should be considered when choosing the urban traffic tools, such as the safety,
economy, environment protection, convenience, efficiency and comfort. The safety, economy and
environment protection will be discussed on how to meet the requirements of sustainable urban
mobility.
The statistical traffic accident data in Beijing 2004 shows that there are 174 accidents by
large bus accounting for 2.04% of the total accidents and 23 people died in the accidents,
accounting for 1.41%. That is to say that the number of people died is small by traffic tools such
as large buses and these kinds of traffic tools are relatively more safe. Table 12-2 shows the travel
distance for every 0.1 billion passengers and the death rate for every 0.1 billion travel hours by
different travel ways in the EU countries from 2001 to 2002. (Liu Guangyuan. 2004.12). It can be

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seen from the table that road traffic is the most dangerous among the four kinds of travelling: road,
sea, air and rail. The number of people died in road traffic accidents is 27 times as many as the
people died by air or by rail.
In road traffic there are big differences by using different kinds of traffic tool e.g. two-wheel
vehicles, on foot, bicycles, cars, bus and long-distance bus. In EU the death threaten of two-wheel
vehicle driver is 20 times as high as the car driver. Taking a car will be 7-9 times as safe as
bicycles or on foot, but still 10 times as dangerous as taking a bus. All these calculations are based
on the travel distance. Public transportation is still the safest way when considering the total safety
factors even if considering the danger before and after taking the train/bus or bicycles.
Table 12-2 2001-2002 per 0.1 billion passenger kilometers and number of deaths of every 0.1
billion passenger in EU

Death/kilometers
per
billion passengers (a)
roads(total)

0.1

Death/travel hours per 0.1 billion

passengers (b)

0.95

29

two-wheel vehicles

13.8

440

on foot

6.4

75

bicycles

5.4

25

automobiles

0.7

25

buses and long-distance

buses

0.07

ships

0.25

16

air

0.035

rails

0.035

Notea. passenger kilometers refer to the distance that travel in certain ways
b. travel hours refer to the total travel hours of all the passengers in certain ways.
From the research from Tsinghua University, we can conclude that when the number of
passenger increases in a car, the total fuel consumption will increase, but the fuel consumption of
one passenger on average will reduce greatly. Figure 12-13 shows that when the passenger number
increased from one to five, the fuel consumption per person could decrease 80%. The average fuel
consumption of a bus is 40L/100km, and there are usually 100 persons on a bus, so the average
fuel consumption for one person is 0.4L/100km, less than taking the private cars. The fuel
consumption and exhaust of CO2 will be greatly decreased if taking buses to work instead of cars.
Choosing the buses which can carry more passengers will be good for energy saving, traffic jam
and economic.

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Figure 12-13 relationship between fuel consumption and the number of

passengers
Figure 12-14 shows CO2 emission per person per kilometer by different traffic tools
(conventional bus, BRT (Bus Rapid Transit), rail transit, taxies, bicycles and automobiles), (Xu
Kang Ming). The CO2 emission is decided by the energy consumption, and it reflects the
economy of the traffic tools. In addition, CO2 is one kind of greenhouse gas which is the major
factor to global warming. So the CO2 emission also reflects the environment protection of the
traffic tools. It can be seen from the figure that the cost and CO2 emission by taking the car or taxi
is 10 times as much as taking bus or rail. As the bus and rail can carry a lot of passenger, so the
emissions are low per person per kilometers. Obviously, choosing bus or rail will be of great
advantage in terms of economy and environment protection.

Figure 12-14 CO2 emission (g) of carrying per person per kilometer by different traffic tools

From the analysis above we can see that in order to construct a sustainable urban traffic
system, public transportation and rail transportation should be developed: open up the bus rapid

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transient access in the main roads and establish the traffic system of which public transportation is
the subject, rail transportation is dominant and private car is supplement.

12.3.2 Development of automobile technology for energy-saving and

emission reduction
In the future, the process of clean fuel and energy saving will be the competition among
conventional diesel, hybrid, biomass fuels and fuel cells as well as other alternative fuels or new
energy. It will also be a process that these kinds of automobiles make progress together (Merrill
Lynch. 2005.6, Duncan Austin. 2003, Miranda Anderson. 2006.4). The ways to develope cars with
low energy consumption and clean fuel will be discussed in detail.

12.3.2.1 Technology advancement of conventional vehicles

(1) energy-saving gasoline vehicles
The gasoline engines will continue to be the main driving force for the passenger cars in a
long time. Any improvement in the existing gasoline engines will have a great impact on energy
saving and environment protection. There is still a big potential in energy-saving in gasoline
engines, such as the use of direct injection (GDI) technology, cylinder deactivation, Variable Valve
Timing (VVT), downsizing, variable compression ratio (VCR) etc. This will save energy by
10%~20%. In the condition of high-compression, advanced gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine
can reduce the fuel consumption and the CO2 emission by 20% compared with the ordinary
gasoline engine. GDI engine will be common and standard in the next 10 years. Besides
promoting the gasoline engine technologies, many other technologies can be introduced to reduce
the fuel consumption including the transmission technology, such as improved automatic
continuously variable transmission technology, automotive technology (such as reducing
resistance and integrated electrical motors) and lighting the mass of the vehicles.
Currently, most passenger cars in China are gasoline cars and the technologies are introduced
from foreign countries, e.g. electronic fuel injection, three-way catalyst and multi-valve
technologies etc are widely used. The emissions of these cars can achieve the EU-III level; some
of them can even achieve the EU-IV level. Variable intake system and turbo charging have already
been applied on some vehicles. The gasoline vehicles can meet the requirements of the emission
regulations by the use of on-borad diagnosis (OBD) system, compact coupled catalytic converters,
HC adsorption devices and oxygen sensor etc. However, the cost of the automobiles will be
increased by using these technologies. In addition, the quality of the fuel in China cannot keep
pace with the development of the technologies and the fuel which meets the standards of the
emission regulations are not sure to be available in most areas.
For the large amount of private cars, besides applying the advanced energy-saving and
emission control technologies, automobile manufactures and consumers should be encouraged to
manufacture and use small-displacement automobiles by reducing or exempting the tax. This will
be the most efficient and lowest cost way.
(2) High efficiency and low-emission diesel vehicles
The thermal efficiency of the diesel engines is higher than that of gasoline engines, so the
fuel consumption is 20% to 40% lower. The application of diesel engines will have great
significance in energy saving and the reduction of CO2 emission. Diesel engine has greater power

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and a longer life. Up to now, 90% diesel vehicles are sold in Europe all over the world and diesel
vehicles share 40% of the European market. It is estimated that in 2010 diesel vehicles will
account for 50% of the automobile market in European.
Diesel vehicles produce more NOx and PM and will do great harm to the environment.
Although the after-treatment technologies such as selective catalytic reduction (SCR), NOx
absorption and deoxidation technology and PM continuous catalytic regeneration etc. can reduce
the emission of NOx and PM, the after-treatment equipments are complicated and expensive. The
challenge for diesel engines is whether they can meet the strict emission regulations in the future.
In Japan, diesel engines are hard to make a breakthrough in the market because of the strict
emission regulations and the governments encouragement of hybrid. In American, although the
introduction of the low-sulfur fuel makes diesel engines a feasible choice, the Tier 2 emissions
regulations also limit the development of the diesel. Another obstacle for diesel engines in the
American market is to obtain the favor of the users: those who are familiar with the diesel cars in
70s which are noisy and with a lot of black smoke may be skeptical about diesel cars. The
manufactures will have to make great effort to convince the customers that modern diesel engines
are more advanced than the early ones. Nevertheless, whether the regulation makers and
customers support the development of diesel engines, they should also be paid attention to. In
Europe, although the regulation is relatively loose, the EU-V standard will be a great challenge for
the automobile enterprises.
According to statistics, among the production of vehicles in China in 2002, 97% of the heavy,
medium duty trucks are with diesel engines, 88% of the light trucks are using diesel engines; 79%
of the large, medium passenger cars are with diesel engines, 27.6% of the light-passenger cars are
with diesel engines; only few cars are using diesel engines and diesel engines are still at its first
stage.
From the 1990s, the ratio of diesel vehicles to gasoline vehicles is increasing in China from
10% in 90s to 30%. The ratio began to decrease after 2001 because the production and sales of
cars increase greatly, much faster than other kind of vehicles. Another reason is the proportion of
the diesel is low.
China's diesel vehicles are mostly developed domestically except some diesel engines in cars.
The performances are not good, the technologies are not advanced and the emissions are bad.
Although some of them are meet the requirement of EU-III emission regulations, there is also a
great gap from the foreign counties in the field of electronic control distribution pumps, high
pressure common rail, pump nozzle and after-treatment technologies.
Diesel vehicles should be mainly used on vehicles that are not in central cities, such as
agricultural vehicles, trucks, long-distance buses etc. The diesel emission control technology and
the promotion of the fuel quality should be the priority. Diesel vehicles should be developed first
when the fuel that meets the requirement of low-emission is sufficient.

12.3.2.2 The popularization and application of a new kind of energy automobile

New energy automobiles refer to automobiles driven by new kinds of fuels such as bio-diesel fuel,
gas, electric vehicles and so on. Bio-fuels such as bio-ethanol and bio-diesel are produced
from plants, crops, the fats of animals and other fuels . Bio-fuels can reduce the greenhouse gas

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(GHG)emissions of vehicle the vehicles using pure bio-fuel will not release CO2, and can
reduce of the emission of CO and PM etc. compared with gasoline and diesel. The Natural
Resources Defense Council (NRDC) of the U.S.A has estimated that by 2050 the bio-fuels of the
U.S.A. can reduce the emissions of GHG by 1.7 billion tons each year, that equivalent to over
80% of the emissions from transportation of the U.S.A in2002, and account for 22% of the total
emissions. Clean renewable bio-fuels have become the trend of the new energy development all
over the world as a near-term target. Bio-fuel vehicles are one of the effective transition solutions
between current conventional internal combustion engine vehicle and future fuel cell vehicles. Gas
mainly refers to CNG and LPG. Methane is the main component of Compressed Natural Gas
(CNG). Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is a by-product during fuel exploitation and fuel refining
process, its main ingredient is propane and butane. The fuel entering the engine in the form of gas
can be evenly mixed with the air, making the mixture burn fully, substantially reducing the
emission of CO and HC, and there basically is no particulate matter emission. Gas-fuelled vehicle
possesses the most mature technologies of clean-alternative-energy vehicle, and has been used as
buses and taxis in some cities in China. Electric vehicles totally or partly rely on electricity for
driven energy, including battery, hybrid and fuel cell. Electric vehicles have two prominent
advantages: only a little emissions and high energy efficiency. Particularly fuel cell electric
vehicles, in the course of traveling, have a zero-pollution emission (emissions product is water),
the energy conversion efficiency reaches 60 to 70%, thus it is taken as the perfect fashion of
vehicle driven energy. However, subject to battery technology vehicles purely asking electricity
for driven-energy are still facing the technology issues on short driving distance, charging
difficulty, etc. Thus pure electric vehicles can only serve well in short-distance and local areas,
such as entertainment places and service facilities. The following parts emphasize on the
popularization and application on bio-ethanol cars, bio-diesel vehicles, hybrid vehicles and fuel
cell vehicles.
(1) Bio-ethanol cars
Ethanol is a kind of oxygenated fuel with higher octane number and higher heat efficiency
and lower pollutant emission, produced by fermentation of rich-carbohydrate (starch, sugar or
cellulose). Ethanol can be used as sparkle ignition engine fuel dependently or by mixed with
gasoline while it can also be ignited by compression when mixing with diesel at a low percentage.
Considering the outstanding characteristics of serving as alternative of petroleum, and remarkably
reducing particle and soot emission, Tsinghua University did some research on the application of
ethanol in diesel engine, which comes mainly in forms of pre-mixed fuel, dual-fuel online mixing
and dual-fuel injection. Test results show that (fig 12-15) mixture fuel of E10 and E30 can reduce
soot emission by 42% and 74% respectively at BMEP=0.7MPa. Smoke-free combustion can be
achieved for diesel engine when ethanol proportion is higher than 60% or oxygen proportion is
higher than 20%.

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3.5
3.0
Rb/BSU

2.5
2.0
1.5

n=1540 r/min
E0
E10
E30

1.0
0.5
0.0
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
pme/MPa

Figure 12-15 the emission of ethanol - diesel dual-fuel

The production of ethanol fuel use biological fermentation method, which can be divided into
plant fiber hydrolysis method and starch raw materials fashion with respect to raw material. Starch
raw materials fashion mainly uses sweet potato, cassava, maize and other agricultural and sideline
products containing starch. Plant fiber hydrolysis method mainly appeals to bagasse from crushed
sugar cane, straw type of biomass. At present, the corn-based starch fermentation method of
ethanol production, which is currently the world's top ethanol production process, is mature in
technology and can achieve better quality product. Straw-fibre-based method of ethanol
production is more complicated in process and technical route, and is currently in the test phase,
have no industrial production capacity.
China has been promoting the application of ethanol fuel since 2001 and built up 3 denatured
fuel ethanol production pilot projects in Jilin, Henan, Anhui. Jilin Fuel Ethanol Limited Liability
Company invests 2.9 billion RMB, and produces 600,000 tons of ethanol fuel every year by corn.
Anhui Feng Yuan Biochemical Co., Ltd. invested 1.3 billion Yuan and built up a production
capability of 320,000 tons for ethanol fuel using corn as raw material. Henan TianGuan Group
invested 1.3 billion Yuan, and produces 300,000 tons of ethanol fuel every year from wheat.
Huarun Jinyu group in Heilongjiang built up 100,000 tons of production capability by old factory
rebuilding and expansion. The foregoing projects sums up to 1.4 million tons of ethanol fuel
production per year, and they can mix as much as 14 million tons of E10 ethanol gasoline,
accounting for more than 30% of the total gasoline sold all over the country in a year.
Currently, China promotes the use of ethanol fuel on vehicle with 10% of ethanol (E10). It
can be used in the existing infrastructures without any big modification on engines. Ethanol
gasoline is popularized in Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Henan and Anhui, and in part of Hebei,
Shandong, Hubei, Jiangsu.
With reference to the grain production and consumption trends in China, the breeds and
geographical distribution, it is not feasible to greatly increase the production of grains, potato and
sugar crane, which are raw materials for ethanol, so it is not feasible to popularize and apply
ethanol fuel in large scale. It will be good to establish agricultural products conversion and
balance grain production and consumption between major food producing areas and protecting
profits of farmers for China to promote use of E10 gasoline in parts of the country. However it

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cannot serve as the main solution to petroleum shortage and energy crisis.
On June 7th 2007 State Council held a meeting on renewable energy and decided to cease
under-construction coal chemical projects and grain ethanol fuel projects. And keep developing
non-grain ethanol fuel under the condition of no farmer land occupation, no grain consumption
and no ecological environmental demolishing. Besides the existing 4 projects using grains to
produce ethanol the government will not approve any new ones. And the existing ones will be
gradually adapted to non-grain alternative energy.
(2) bio-diesel vehicles
Biodiesel is a kind of fuel which is esterificated from oil crops such as soybean, rapeseed, oil
fruits of some plants such as oil palm and Chinese pistache, oil aquatic plants such as projects
microalgae, animal fats and wasted food oil. The octane number and oxygen content of the biodiesel is high so that the burning is complete and the emissions of CO, HC and PM are low. As the
bio-diesel contains no sulfur and aromatic component, the emissions of sulfur and PAH are very
low. So the bio-diesel is a good alternative as a kind of clean fuel for CI engine. The bio-diesel can
be used directly by mixed with the fossil diesel. The engines do not need to be changed when the
proportion of bio-diesel is low (10% to 20%). The performance of the mixed fuel is the same as
the diesel and the fuel storage and transportation equipments are also universal. There is no need
for basic faculty re-construction.
Tsinghua University has studied the emission reduction effect of the bio-diesel on an EU-III
diesel engine. The results show (figure 12-16) that the bio-diesel and diesel can be mixed in any
proportion without changing the engine and the PM can be reduced by 10%-60%. The emission of
DS (dry soot) can be almost zero if increase the oxygen content in the fuel.

Figure 12-16 emission reduction effect of the bio-diesel

The preparation process for the bio-diesel can be classified as chemical method and
biological enzyme method. There are many technical problems to be solved by the biological

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enzyme method and it is difficult to produce in industrial-scale. Chemical method can be divided
into cracking, hydrolysis esterification and transesterification. As the stability of the oil produced
by moderate breaking chains method is not good, bio-diesel is usually produced by
transesterification or hydrolysis esterification. The main ingredient is fatty acid single akkyl ester.
At present, the production ratio of diesel to gasoline is 1.8, but the consumption of the ratio is
more than 2.0. The consumption in some cities such as Yunnan, Guangxi and Guizhou is more
than 2.5. The contradictions between the diesel and gasoline are becoming more and more serious
with the speeding up development of the western region and the starting of some major
infrastructure projects which have great influence on the national economy. Developing bio-diesel,
adjusting the current structure of oil, increasing the ratio of diesel and gasoline will be of great
significance in releasing the supply of the diesel in China.
The cost is the biggest problem for the bio-diesel. At present, the price of soya bean oil and
rapeseed oil is about 6000 RMB / ton and the price will be even higher if the consumption in the
processing of the bio-diesel is added. The price of the bio-diesel produced from the food oil is
much higher than the diesel, so more government subsidies are needed in order to promote the
bio-diesel in a large scale. The cost of producing bio-diesel from wasted food oil is low and will
not occupy the cultivated land. In addition, the recycle of the wasted oil will be good to the
environment. However, the quality and stability of this kind of fuel is hard to say.
China is now building the regulations about the standard for bio-diesel about the mixing ratio
in order to provide guarantee of the production, promoting and using of the bio-diesel.
(3) Hybrid Electric Vehicle
Hybrid vehicles (HEVs) are the combination of electric drive (motor and batteries) and
internal combustion engines. The on-line electric power can be used to change the mix extent.
Full-hybrid vehicles allow full use of the electric power to drive the vehicles when running and the
partial-hybrid vehicles only use the motor when recycling the braking energy and idling. HEVs
can reduce the CO2 by 50% from well to wheel compared with the conventional engines. And
HEVs do not face the restrict emission regulations as the diesels do. HEVs are good to the
environment and are good choices even in Europe where diesel cars are popular because the
enterprises want to reduce the CO2 emission to 140g/km or even 120g/km in the future. In Japan,
because of incentive policies, HEVs are accelerating to occupy the automotive market.
DaimlerChrysler, Ford and General Motors are also accelerating their pace in Hybrid. This means
that the competition between the automobile enterprises in Hybrid will be intense.

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Figure 12-17 the difference in fuel consumption under different cycles between hybrid and
conventional gasoline vehicles

Tsinghua University has studied the fuel consumption and emissions of the Hybrid under
different driving-cycles by means of road test and vehicle dynamometer test. The effect on energysaving is obvious compared with the conventional gasoline vehicles. The difference of the fuel
consumption under different cycles is shown in figure 12-17. The hybrid can save about 32% fuel
than that of ordinary vehicle under the NEDC driving-cycle which is widely used in China and can
save about 44% fuel under the Beijing-cycle which is close to the road condition in the urban of
Beijing.
The hybrid can save fuel by 32%, 25%, 29% and 44% under the NEDC driving-cycle, Japancycle, US-cycle and Beijing-cycle compared with the conventional vehicle. The reason that the
fuel consumption varied from cycle to cycle is that hybrid has the smaller engine and the
temperature of the engine increases quickly. As the Japan-cycle is tested after the warming-up on
the engine, the advantage of the temperature is not obvious. Thats why the energy-saving
efficiency is lower than the other three cycles which are tested from the cold start. The energysaving efficiency increases with the decrease of the velocity. As the average velocity of the ECE
driving-cycle is the lowest one, the effect on energy-saving is most obvious.
Further analysis has been made in the energy-saving effect for hybrid vehicles under the
urban and high-speed driving conditions. NEDC driving-cycle and EUDC driving-cycle are
considered respectively. Figure 12-18 shows that hybrid can save fuel by 48% in the urban and
13% on the highway. Meanwhile, the Beijing-cycle is close to the ECE-cycle in the fuel economy.

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Figure 12-18 contrast of the fuel consumption between gasoline vehicles and hybrid under
NEDC cycle by drum test

Figure 12-19 contrast of the fuel consumption between petrol vehicles and
hybrid on road test
Figure 12-19 is the comparison of the fuel consumption between gasoline and hybrid vehicles
on road test which is carried out on the Beijing's actual roads. It can be seen from the figure,
hybrid can save 36%~ 41% fuel on the real roads in Beijing and the comprehensive energy-saving
effect on the four kinds of integrated roads is about 38%. Hybrid should be promoted to apply on
vehicles such as taxis and buses that are running in the urban.
In automotive field, the cost / benefit (trade-off) of the hybrid is always in dispute. On the
issue of benefit, in most conditions the engine just output part of the power. For example, when
running on the highway, only 20 horsepower is needed to drive electrical accessories to overcome
the resistance between the tires and ground and the resistance of air. The rest of the power is used
to start-up, accelerate and overtake. In fact, most drivers will use only 1% of the full-power during

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total time. The power system of the hybrid is the combination of the motor and the conventional
gasoline engine. The engine can be optimized (e.g. reducing displacement) so that the engine can
run in maximum efficiency area. The motor will provide the extra power when accelerating and
recycle the energy of braking. Hybrid vehicles use small displacement engines and the engine can
be more efficient in fuel economy and emissions (table 12-3).
Table 12-3 hybrid benefit- the comparison between Civic hybrid and Civic
gasoline vehicles
items

proportion

fuel economy (annual)

-29%

CO2

-29%

CO

-41%

NOx

-89%

HC

-27%

added vehicle models in 2003 sourceHonda

Hybrid vehicles are expensive more than conventional internal combustion engine vehicles.
The reason is obvious because hybrid vehicles are equipped with two sets of independent power
systems. As shown in Table 12-4, it is estimated that it costs $ 3,500 more for one hybrid than a
conventional internal combustion engine vehicle. The cost of a single hybrid vehicle will be
reduced when the production is large. In addition, the low fuel consumption and the exemption
policy ($1,000 in 2005) can make up some expense in buying a hybrid. Even so, the making up is
not enough to compensate the additional cost of hybrid vehicles.
Table 12-4 cost of additional parts and components of a hybrid car
items
Batteries,
controller

cost
cooling

systems

and

battery

$ 1,400

Electronic controller and variable device

$ 1,400

Motor(50kW)

$ 600

Lines, security lines, AC / DC converters

$ 600

Upgrade transmission

$ 500

Total cost

$ 3,500

SourcesEnergy & Environmental Analysis, Inc.

HEVs have already entered the Japan and the United States market. In the United States sales
of HEVs reached 54,000 in 2003 and may be up to 872,000 in 2013. With the strict emissions and
energy-saving regulations, it is expected that the HEVs will take up the global auto market by
10%. The biggest challenge to take HEVs as the dominant vehicles is to reduce the cost to ensure

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profits. At present, HEVs are $ 3,000 to $ 4,000 more expensive than the conventional vehicles it
is the disadvantage.
China FAW Group cooperates with Toyota to manufacture Toyota Prius hybrid car in 2005.
FAW designed the hybrid city bus independently which has been checked and accepted in the
863 electric project. Dongfeng's hybrid bus has finished the test in Jun of 2005. And also be
checked and accepted. Chang'an has produced the demo-vehicle called Lingyang which has the
independent intellectual property. Changan CV9 is equipped with the hybrid technology will be
ready for assembly at the end of 2005. Chery has set up a national energy conservation and
environmental protection Automotive Engineering Technology Research Center and will detect
the hybrid vehicles soon. Shanghai Maple Automobile cooperated with Tongji University and will
achieve the commercialization of the hybrid in three years. SAIC has signed the agreement with
Jiaotong University and Tongji University about the new energy. Hybrid designed by SAIC and
GM will be put into use at the end of the year. Hybrid designed by SAIC and VW is planned to put
into small production in Jun of 2008
In China, the commercialization of HEVs will meet a lot of difficulties and challenges
including the development of energy storage equipment which has high energy density and high
power density, the development of electronic equipments which is low cost but high efficiency and
the development of engines with high fuel economy but low emissions. In HEVs the gap of
technologies and industrialization between China and other countries is small. In addition, we
have a solid foundation and achievements in this field. However, we are still in the initial stage of
industrialization.
(4) Fuel cell electric vehicles
Fuel cell is one kind of device which can convert the chemical energy of hydrogen and
oxygen into electric energy directly by the way of electrode reactions. Its greatest feature is that
there is no burning in the process of conversion, and it has high-energy conversion efficiency. The
actual efficiency can reach 2 to 3 times of internal combustion engine. The biggest advantage of
hydrogen fuel cell vehicles is high efficiency and zero-emissions (only exhaust water), which
solves the problem of pollution by the automobiles fundamentally. In addition, it has advantage of
fuel diversification and low noise.
If the hydrogen energy can be achieved from renewable energy (such as solar energy or wind
energy), then there will be no CO2 emissions in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. However, at present,
more than 90% of the hydrogen gas is obtained from the fossil fuel. Hydrogen can also be
obtained from transforming traditional fossil fuel on the car, but this transformation process will
bring CO2 emissions. The "wells to wheels" CO2 emissions on fuel cell vehicles will be same in
quantity with the CO2 emissions of hybrid vehicles in the foreseeable future, since it is impossible
to generate hydrogen fuel from renewable sources largely in the next 10 years.
The vehicle companies are very cautious to produce fuel cell vehicles in large-scale, since
there were once unrealistic expectations about the fuel cell vehicles market in the late 1990s.
However, once such an important breakthrough potential technology eventually enter the market,
vehicle companies cannot afford the risks of ignoring the technology. Therefore, its a key strategy
challenge to build leader position in the field of fuel cell vehicles for the present vehicle
companies and these which hope to grow into important companies by the year of 2015. And a

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real competition focusing on fuel cell technology in the automobile industry has begun. But the
vehicle companies at the leading position in the fuel cell technology have gradually formed a
consensus that the competition will be a very long process. On the Tokyo and Detroit Auto Show
in 2005, GM announced a new fuel cell concept vehicle (Sequel), the objective of which is to
design and verify the reliability of the driven system of fuel cell so that it can compete with the
current internal combustion engine, and to be mass-produced. But GM did not give the timetable
of the commercialization. Therefore, the time of 2010 some people expected there will be
breakthrough technology of fuel cell vehicle has been postponed to 2015, perhaps even later.
Many experts believe that fuel cell technology will build a long-term technology transfer from the
current petrol vehicles, and hybrid gasoline, diesel and renewable bio-fuels can improve vehicle
efficiency in the near future and can achieve the shift from fossil fuel.
The key challenges on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are hydrogen production, transportation
and cost. Its a very arduous task to find solutions to find hydrogen sources for vehicle. According
to most people estimation, the fuel cell technology in cost, size, durability and easy
manufacturing and other aspects must raise for 10 to 100 times before entirely feasible. The best
foreground of fuel cell vehicles is that there is 10 years at least before commercial operation.
Many experts believe that there is about 20 to 40 years before the mass production of fuel cell
vehicles.
China Demonstration of Fuel-Cell Bus Commercialization Project is a project supported by
Chinese Government, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and United Nations Development
Program (UNDP), the implementation of the project is organized by Chinese Ministry of Science
and Technology, Beijing, and Shanghai, officially started in 2003. The total funding of this project
reached 32.36 million U.S. dollars. Beijing and Shanghai would each purchase six fuel cell buses
which started demonstration running in the second half of 2005, and the goal is to run for 1.6
million kilometers accumulated by the 12 cars.
The "Beyond" series of fuel cell cars are developed by Tongji University and Shanghai Brief
introduction Technology Co., Ltd. together. The 10 fuel cell cars started demonstration running as
taxis in the second half of 2005 which are on the prototype of 3rd beyond. The fuel cell city bus
which is developed by Tsinghua University, Beijing Bus Plant, and other units, using the fuel cell
and battery hybrid driven type, has been assessing the total distance of running over 10,000 km.
The compilation of national standards of China's fuel cell vehicles has been launched in
Shanghai, including two basic criteria of "fuel cell cars terms" and "fuel cell vehicles safety
requirements", will be completed in 2008. A special project team formed of more than 10 senior
scientific and technological persons who come from National Automotive Standardization
Technical Committee, the China Automotive Technology & Research Center, Tongji University ,
SAIC, other institutions and enterprises, is expected to form the draft of "fuel cell cars terms" and
" fuel cell vehicles vehicle safety requirements " in late 2007.

12.3.3 Development and Application of Intelligent Transportation

System Technology
Transportation safety is one of the most important goals and researches of sustainable urban

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traffic. With the development of highways and improvement of vehicle safety performance,
vehicle speed becomes faster in recent years. Because of the increase of vehicle speed, vehicle
amount, increasingly busy transportation situation and increase of car accidents, more and more
casualties and property losses are caused, which has become an urgent social problem. Hence, the
road traffic management technology and automobile safety play an important role in assuring the
safety of road traffic.

12.3.3.1 Sustainable urban intelligent transportation system

Road transportation system is a complex integrated system. It is very difficult to solve the problem
such as traffic jams, high frequency accidents and environmental pollution, which has becoming
more and more severe in recent years, by considering only road or vehicle using traditional traffic
management ways. Intelligent Transportation System (Intelligent Transportation System, ITS) is a
real-time, accurate, comprehensive transportation system which can work in large area in all
directions. Advanced information technology, data communication transmission technology,
electronic sensor technology, electronic control technology, computer processing technology and
some other technology are applied in the whole ground transportation management system. In
March 1995, "National Intelligent Transportation System Project Plans" was first published by
U.S. Department of Transportation, which clearly provides 7 major areas and 29 customer service
functions for intelligent transportation systems. The 7 major areas include: travel and traffic
management systems, travel demand management system, public transportation operators,
commercial vehicles operating systems, electronic payment system, emergency management
systems and advanced vehicle control and safety systems.
The ultimate goal of Intelligent Transportation System is to establish a rapid, punctual, safe,
convenient and comfortable transportation system, in order to ensure sustainable socio-economic
development, and establish a good transportation environment in harmony with human survival
environment. The advantages of intelligent transportation system can be summarized by
convenient, safe, comfortable and fast. Experiences of foreign countries have proved that ITS can
save 33% to 55% of vehicles running time, traffic accidents can be reduced by 50% to 80%.
According to the estimation of U.S. Intelligent Transportation Association, the application of ITS
will improve the utilization ratio of existed roads by 15% to 30%. According to Japanese officially
estimation, Japan will reduce the traffic accidents by 8% to 10% in the next 20 years, number of
death in traffic accidents each year will be reduced by 30% to 70%. By the year of 2010, Japan's
domestic traffic congestion can be reduced by 20%, 4.546-billion-litre fuel can be saved, capacity
of road network can be doubled, emissions can be reduced and economic and social benefits are
very substantial. According to the estimation of Japanese association of promoting intelligent road
traffic vehicles, 2 billion U.S. dollars market sales has been created so far only by the development
of navigation system, and it is estimated that in the next 20 years ITS is expected to create 500
billion U.S. dollars totally. With the gradual establishment of Beijing's Intelligent Transportation
System, the average urban vehicle speed has been increased from around 20 km/h to above
25km/h. The research of Tsinghua University shows (Fig 12-20) that fuel consumption per
kilometer is decreased by 15% with the average vehicle speed increasing from 20 km/h to 25km/h,
which also means that CO2 emission is reduced by 15%.

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Figure 12-20 fuel consumption varied by the speed

After nearly 10 years development, ITS technology has moved from concept introduction
stage to wide application stage in China and has reached series achievements on basic theoretical
research, key technology research, application system establishing and related product research. At
present, advanced traffic management technology, intelligent public transportation technology and
modern logistics management technologies are playing an important role in urban traffic
management. ITS has been effectively applied in urban road traffic management. 27 provinces
have implemented interconnection charge system between provincial highways in different areas.
During the "11th Five-Year Plan" period, State Ministry of Science and Technology has set up
major project "National Comprehensive Integrated Application of Intelligent Transportation
Technology Demonstrations", which is supported by national scientific and technological
supporting plans. Currently it is carried out in China's Yangtze River Delta and Beijing, Tianjin
and Hebei. The project mainly focuses on how to provide humane transportation services, develop
ITS technologies and safe/high-speed transportation technology. With combination of major
international events such as the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2010 Shanghai World Expo and
Guangzhou Asian Games, major projects such as the state highway non-stop charge service and
national ocean cargo transportation, focus on a layout of researching emphases like comprehensive
ITS management and national ITS services, aims at breakthrough of key technologies of ITS
management and services, implement several representational ITS management and services
systems and projects, achieve integrated appliance of ITS technologies, form standards and
evaluation systems of ITS technologies, improve technology creation ability, bring along the
development of this industry, and promote form of creation system.
Considering China's national conditions, technology basis and stage of development, China's
development of ITS should attach importance to the following principles. Firstly, Chinas cities
are now facing a crucial moment of mobility, so sustainable development strategy and guiding
ideology should be established, and benign basis of transportation system development need to be
established. Secondly, in order to realize industrialization as soon as possible, China's ITS
development should base on mature technology to from new system concepts and system
functions through technology integration. Thirdly, the development of ITS should be propitious to

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improve management of both traffic management departments and enterprises and make
efficiency and resource out of management.

12.3.3.2 Vehicle Intelligent Transportation (VIT) Technology: Development and

application
Vehicle Intelligent Transportation (VIT) Technology refers to technologies directly connected to
automobiles in Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), including vehicle apparatus technology,
vehicle control and safety system technology, etc. ITS estimates various potential dangers to
vehicles in traffic comprehensively with reference to sensors, communication equipments and
electronic control instruments, and warns the driver in time when danger comes or even introduces
vehicle safe automatic drive in extremely dangerous situations to keep the vehicle away from
danger, so as to avoid traffic accident or mitigate injuries. To sum up, VIT technology, which is a
major topic of ITS and stands for the future of vehicle safety technology, comprehensively makes
use of information sensing, dynamic identifying, control technologies and methods etc to enhance
vehicle active safety, and provide technological solutions for future traffic of zero accident rate.
VIT technologies currently under developing, testing and applying can be classified into 3
categories:
(1)Collision Warning Systems (CWS)
CWS warns the driver in time that he should take some correspondent actions when danger
happens by monitoring the vehicle surroundings in traffic. In detail it contains vehicle CWS in
grade crossing, obstruction detecting system, lane-change warning system and rear-impact
warning system, etc.
(2)Driver Assistance System (DAS)
DAS, capable of navigation, provides driving routes and helps to find destinations that meet
travel needs. At the same time it can partly control the vehicle under some circumstances to avoid
vehicle collision. It covers automatic navigation system, vehicle communication system, driverview enhancing system, safety drive assistance, driver monitoring system and vehicle black box,
etc.
(3) Collision Notification System (CNS)
Vehicle CNS is implemented to detect and report the accident location and severity. Usually
impact sensors, GPS and wireless communication technologies are used to send information such
as accident location, injury severity and the number of the injured etc to the First Aid Center,
which will do great help to the rescuers when determining rescue equipment, transportation to
approach the scene (by air or ground), and searching the scene of the accident.
The developing trend of VIT technologies deals with the following points:
(1)Vehicle safety becomes the top issue of VIT technologies
Safety of traffic system has always been the crucial object of ITS. Countries all around the
world, especially developed ones, pay more attention to life safety and sustainable development
when 21st century comes. EU, Japan, Australia and Canada all come out with traffic safety
schemes for the next 10 years to achieve 30%~50% decrease of domestic traffic accident mortality

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by 2010. North European countries even declare their zero death program. Besides traffic safety
education and strict regulation, to utilize VIT technologies to enhance driving safety of vehicles is
the most important and effective way to achieve these goals.
(2) Safety drive assistance and driver monitoring system will become the emphasis of recent
VIT technology development
According to relevant data, even though there are many factors that lead to an accident, 70%
of them are directly connected to the drivers. The mental condition, physical condition and
psychical emotion are the direct internal factors of accident. Technical approach to real-time
monitoring of drivers concentration on driving and his being dozing or not, which calls driver
monitoring system, is necessary to overcome this issue. For example, camera and other kinds of
sensors can be used to monitoring facial expressions, open-extent of eyes, blinking frequency etc
of the driver, with sonic and optical alarms implemented. Vehicle safety drive assistance system
comprehensively monitors current vehicle condition, and automobiles and obstacles around. In
condition of potential safety problems it will warn the drivers. Safe drive assistance and driver
monitoring system is becoming the development emphasis of ITS.
Some VIT technologies such as vehicle navigation system have developed more and more
complicated, entering the stage of mass commercial application. After 10 years of development,
Japan has built up a road transportation information service network that covers every district of
the nation. By August 2004, as many as 10 million sets of vehicle navigation system had been
installed on vehicles in Japan. And 9 new vehicle safety technologies are newly developed,
including dozing-alarm system, emergency braking pre-alarm system, tire-pressure monitoring
system, obstacle-pass-by system, high adaptive and high speed system, hydraulic braking system,
night pedestrian monitoring system, emergency automatic reporting system and windshield glass
small-bead surface treatment, will gradually come into use on vehicles. Scientific researchers in
Germany combined GPS and airbag to devise a multifunctional type of airbag, whose
communication equipment will report the accurate location of the vehicle as quickly as possible to
the nearest police station and hospital at its deployment. American Ford Research Center has built
up an on-board vehicle information platform on Galaxy model and developed two types of stable
anti-interference communication protocol for information exchange between stable information
service center and mobile on-board vehicle information platform.
In China, Tsinghua University, Tongji University, FAW Group and the National Defense
Science and Technology University, and other universities and companies are researching and
developing relevant VIT technologies, such as intelligent vehicle, drive-safety assistance system,
automatic drive system, steer-by-wire technology, vehicle on-board mail system and vehicle
automatic anti-collision instrument, etc.

12.4

Ways to energy-saving and emission reduction

New energy automobile is an important aspect for the clean fuel development and also a long-term
goal and strategy. In addition, the fuel consumption, safety and emission of in-use vehicles will
have great impact on the urban traffic. Another way to achieve the sustainable urban mobility goal
is to strengthen the management and maintenance of the in-use vehicles and this is the more direct

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and urgent way. In this section, the policy management and maintenance will be discussed in the
field of energy-saving and emission reduction, including strict vehicle emission and energy
conservation regulations, improve auto-related tax policies, establish the car I / M system, use the
vehicles correctly and maintain the vehicles in the right way etc.

12.4.1 Strengthen management of in-use vehicles

12.4.1.1 Strengthen the energy conservation and emissions regulations
Automobile fuel economy is not only the technical performance but also the main field through
which the government control the automobile products. China in 2004 issued compulsory national
standards "Passenger Cars Fuel Consumption Limits"(GB 19578-2004) and "Light Commercial
Vehicle Fuel Consumption Limits" is completed by 2007. These standards will have great
significance on improving the fuel economy. They can be used as the limits of the introduction of
some products but also use as a basis for the making of the rewards and punishment policy about
the automobile products which will lead the production and usage of energy-saving products.
State Environmental Protection Administration has released the latest "Light Vehicle
Emission Limits and Measurement Methods" (China , stage) (GB18352.3-2005) standard in
2005, which required to implement the China emissions regulations all over the country since
2007.7, and implement the China IV from 2010. Beijing released the local emissions standards
which are in line with the China IV emission regulations called "Motor Gasoline" (DB11/2382007) and Motor Diesel Oil" (DB11/239-2007) and will compulsorily implement the China IV
emission regulation first in Beijing from 2008.1. At present, the key point is not lack of strict
emission standards or lack of the emission control technologies but the supply of clean fuel for the
whole country in a short time. Petro-China and China Petrifaction have declared that the gasoline
and diesel which meet the requirement of China III is only available in Beijing, Shanghai,
Shenzhen, Guangzhou etc. Other regions will have to wait until 2009.12.

12.4.1.2 Improve car-related tax policy

With the rapid development of China's automobile industry, the interaction between automobiles
and society is becoming closer and closer. The automobile industry particularly the private car
industry is in a period of transformation so that the policy is playing a more and more important
role. According to the State Council's requirements on energy-saving and emission reduction, the
next reform and improvement about auto-related tax policies should be done as follows: First,
carry out the tax preferential policies which encourage the development of energy-saving and
clean cars. Meanwhile, study the tax policies about emissions and clean fuel. Second, issue the
policies to limit the development of poor fuel economy cars and make the polices to punish cars
that can not meet the requirements of fuel economy on the basis of the experiences from Europe,
the United States, Japan and other developed countries. Third, improve the fuel tax policies.
Forth, study the environmental taxes.
(1) Fuel tax
The so-called "fuel tax" is the fuel charge from the road maintenance fees, road tolls, bridge
tolls and transportation management fees. Many developed countries implement the fuel tax and it
has become an important part of the revenue. More than 130 countries and regions have
implemented the fuel tax up to 2006.8. The European countries first started the fuel tax in the

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1970s for two reasons: raise funds to repair roads and fair taxation.
The promotion of fuel tax will change the structure of using cost of the automobiles and there
will be many benefits. First, the consumption of motor vehicles will be more economic and
rational; the users of the small displacement, low fuel consumption, low-frequency used cars will
pay less for fuel tax instead of the fixed payment of road maintenance fees, which will encourage
the energy-saving. Second, in view of China's low efficiency of utilization of resources and the
growing demand of oil, the fuel tax will help to reduce the fuel consumption and emissions so that
avoid energy crisis. Third, as the cost of the private cars will be increased because of the tax, more
and more people will take buses instead, which will greatly improve the overall traffic situation of
the cities.
U.S. collects 30% tax on gasoline; British 73%; Japan 120%; Garman 260% and France 300
%. Experts predict that China's fuel tax rate will be between 30% and 50%.
In accordance with the plan, the road maintenance fees, the passenger surcharge and many
other expenses will be canceled after the fuel tax for gasoline/diesel. However, the tax on vehicles
and ships as a property tax has the function of adjusting the value of property. The highway toll is
not necessarily canceled although there is tax on gasoline and diesel. The fuel tax reform should
also consider the reform of the traffic tax especially the reform of the price of the oil.
(2) Environmental tax
At present, China's Ministry of Finance, the National Tax Administration, the Environmental
Protection Agency is considering to collect the emission tax in 2010. The car owners will have to
pay for the emissions in the form of tax in the future. State Environmental Protection
Administration officials hinted in the "2007 China Forum on Sustainable Energy Development,"
that the three ministries are making policies on the pollution tax and emission tax. Emissions tax is
collected from the terminal consumers. E.g. if the automobile exhaust contains carbon monoxide,
sulphur dioxide and other pollutants, the owners must pay for the emissions when refueling. The
pollution tax is collected from the enterprises i.e. the enterprises have to pay a lot if their products
will cause pollution. Now the policy research work is just on the first stage and the policies are
expected to release in the "11th Five-Year Plan" period. The making and implement of the policies
are in the charge of the Ministry of Finance, the SAT and the Environmental Protection Agency
will provide technical support, e.g. making the pollution emission standards and the testing of the
emission.
Pollution emission tax and product tax are two kinds of environmental tax. Environmental tax
has been advocated by the experts a long time ago but has not been implemented yet.
Comprehensive Working Scheme of Energy-saving and Emission reduction" which released in
2007.6 has pointed out that environmental tax will be collected in our country later. Environmental
taxes are usually used to protect the environment nowadays. In some countries, the environmental
tax is a large part of the tax revenue.

12.4.1.3 Establish the I / M system for in-use vehicles

I / M (Inspection & Maintenance) system do not required compulsory installation of exhaust gas
purifying system and transformation of the engine. It is used to keep the original technical
indicators, to supervise and make sure the vehicle pollution control devices working normally so

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that can play the role of purification well. OBD is able to identify the system failures that cause
the emissions over standard and determine the causes and locate the position so that carry out
appropriate maintenance, repair to make sure that the vehicles can meet the emission standards
and keep a good condition. It is now internationally recognized as the most effective way.
As the population of motor vehicles in Beijing is the largest, the air pollution is the most
serious. The management of the motor vehicles is the strictest in China and it will be a good
example for other cities. The principles of I / M system in Beijing are: on the basis of testing and
then the maintenance to make sure that the vehicles will meet the emission standards; to scrap the
old vehicles more frequently; testing regularly: twice a year in six years for the vehicles equipped
with OBD, once a year for the green-labeled vehicles and twice a year for the yellow-labeled
vehicles; the Environmental Protection Department and the Public Security Departments should
investigate and monitor the vehicles on road all year along; the owners of the over standard
vehicles can choose the garage to repair their cars.
Detailed measures that the Beijing government taken to control the in-use vehicle emissions.
(1) Label the in-use vehicles with green or yellow according to the emissions.
(2) Test the vehicle emissions regularly: the regular tests are carried out by the method of
Simplified Loaded Mode since 2003; Beijing now has 43 inspection plant and 220 test lines. The
plants are equipped with real-time images and data monitoring. The test for gasoline vehicles
including appearance test, BASM test, idling test and OBD test. The test for diesel vehicles
including smoke detection, power test, speed test and the emission limits are classified into three
parts. The vehicles that cannot use Simplified Loaded Mode will be tested in Double Idle State
Method or Free Acceleration method. The vehicles that do not pass the emission test will not be
allowed to the Security Detection.
(3) Strengthen the road check of the in-use vehicles. The Environmental Protection
Department and the Public Security Departments has established Law Enforcement Department
of Motor Vehicle Pollution Control. The road check of the in-use vehicles will be strengthened
and high-emission trucks, buses will be checked respectively. Other special inspection are carried
out on the vehicles from other cites coming into Beijing. 700,000 vehicles will be spot checked
every year.
(4) Promote repair and maintenance. The owner of the vehicles that do not pass the test can
choose the garage to repair their cars and have to recheck until pass the test. And 250,000 vehicles
will be treated.
(5) Limit traffic ability of the labeled-yellow vehicles. High-emission vehicles with less than
19 seats are not allowed to enter the central-district between 8:00-19:00.
(6) Speed up the updating of old vehicles. 460,000 vehicles are discarded during the tenth
Five Years. More than 6000 diesel buses and 43,000 taxies are updating with the help of the
discount loans and economic subsidies. The new vehicles all meet the requirements of Chine III
emission standards and solve the problem of black smoke. At the same time, the compressed
natural gas (CNG) on buses is popularized. There are more than 3,000 CNG buses now.

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12.4.2 The correct use and maintenance of vehicles

12.4.2.1 The significance of vehicle maintenance
The work to maintain good technical condition and working ability of vehicles is called Vehicle
Maintenance. Practice shows that, with reliable maintenance, the service life will be extended, the
early damage of automobile parts will be prevented, and the operating failure will be reduced.
These are the significance of vehicle maintenance. In the idea of putting prevention as primary, by
the rule of loosing and abrasion of parts and machines, the maintenance will maintain the
condition and working ability of vehicles, so as to extend the service life. The target of vehicle
maintenance is to keep the tidy appearance, decrease the abrasion processing, reduce undue
damage, find the failure and hidden trouble in time, and at the same time achieve the following
roles (Chen Haiping, Zhang Kailiang. 199.12):
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)

Make sure that the vehicle is in good condition, can be used at any moment. Increase the
rate of intact vehicles.
Under normal working condition, the vehicle wont stop on the way because of conking,
and wont have mechanism troubles that would affect the traffic safety.
Make sure to keep the balance of the technical condition of each part, so as to extend the
time between big repairs.
Make sure to lower the use of oil, materials and parts as far as possible.
Reduce the noise and emission pollutants.

Figure 12-21 HC emission before and after maintenance

According to the data, a vehicle which doesnt have good maintenance has to be repaired
every 80 to 100 thousand kilometers. What is worse, this vehicle will work with conking during
the next 40 to 50 thousand kilometers because of maintenance lacking, so we are not sure about
the emission. However, the vehicle which has good maintenance can keep working for 200
thousand kilometers without big repairs, and the emission is certain during this distance. So its
obvious that proper maintenance is very important to vehicles. 1800 Santanas (carburetor type),
300 Jiefang trucks, 200 Dongfengs, 900 diesel vehicles had much better emission after complete
maintenances. Setting Santana as an example, before maintenance, therere only 14% cars of

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which the HC emission is less than 200ppmm. After maintenance, the number increase to 26.4%
(Figure 12-21). Before maintenance, therere only 34.4% cars of which the CO emission is less
than 3%. After maintenance, the number increase to 73.4% (Figure 12-21). So its very obvious
that proper maintenance is good to emission.

Figure 12-22 CO emission before and after maintenance

12.4.2.2 Impact of car maintenance and using condition on fuel consumption and
emissions
(1) Using conditions
The test is conducted under the controlled atmospheric temperature and reference state in the
lab simulating the running state of the real road to estimate the fuel consumption; however the real
conditions varied a lot and the fuel consumption may also vary greatly. The impact of the using
conditions including:
Environmental conditions: the test is conducted under controlled atmospheric temperature,
the laboratory temperature is 20 5 . The actual temperature of the environment varied from
-30 to 40 . The low temperature makes the vehicles to spend more time warming up the
engine which need more fuel.
Road condition: the test simulate roads which are dry and flat and the friction is stable
without slope resistance when testing on the chassis dynamometer; the real conditions are not so
simple: road surface, slope, wet/dry , corners and mountain roads all will influence the fuel
consumption.
Driving cycle: driving cycle has the greatest impact on c. The test is conducted under the
typical driving cycle, which was composed of two parts: urban low-speed (maximum speed 50 km
/ h, average 19 km / h) and suburb high-speed (maximum speed 120 km / h, average 63 km / h).
The actual fuel consumption varied a lot because of the using sites; using condition etc. the fuel
consumption is high if driving in the urban; the fuel consumption is low if driving on the highway
normally; if driving short haul frequently, the fuel consumption will be high because of the time

386

that the vehicle running at the ideal temperature is short. Tsinghua University conducted an
experiment on the rolling drum comparing the NEDC driving cycle, Japan 10-15 driving cycle and
FTP75 driving cycle on the same car in order to find out the influence of the driving cycle on the
fuel consumption and emissions. Table 12-5 shows the details: Japan 10-15 driving cycle has the
lowest emission factors because the vehicles are preheated so that there are no cold start
emissions. FTP75 driving cycle has the highest fuel consumption because the acceleration is
violent and the working condition is unstable.
Table 12-5 comparison about fuel consumption and emissions under three
driving cycle
NEDC

Japan10-15

FTP75

HC(g/km)

0.108

0.008

0.129

CO(g/km)

0.413

0.074

0.379

NOx(g/km)

0.007

0.004

0.018

Fuel
consumption(L/100km)

7.79

9.76

12.55

Air-conditioning: Air-conditioning has a significant effect on fuel consumption. At present,

China's fuel consumption test is conducted when the air-conditioning is shut down, but the actual
condition is that the air conditioning will consume 5-25% fuel more. In the United States, the test
is conducted when the air-conditioning in on. This is worth learning.
The number of passengers and cargo: weight has a great influence on the fuel consumption.
Official fuel consumption is tested under the reference state: empty vehicle weight (with the
necessary tools, spare tire and fuel) added by 100kg (including the weight of the driver). The
actual condition is that the number of passengers is more than one and the backup box is usually
filled with goods so that the fuel consumption is high. Minimize the weight of the vehicles such as
remove goods that are not necessary can reduce the fuel consumption.
Tires and tire pressure: rolling resistance of different tires is different, and when the tire
pressure is low, the rolling resistance will be larger. Users replacing their tires by their own and the
low pressure of the tires will lead to the difference between the actual fuel consumption and the
test results. Tsinghua University has studied the impact of tire pressure on the fuel consumption on
the actual road. It is found that the fuel consumption reduces when the tire pressure increases and
after analyzing we can conclude: the impact of the tire pressure weakened when the speed is high,
as the air resistance is dominant at high speed; the fuel consumption increases when the tire
pressure is below the standard pressure. The improvement of fuel consumption is not so obvious
when increasing the pressure continuously.

387

Figure 12-23 impact of tire pressure on fuel consumption

(2) Driving habits
The test is conducted by the skilled drivers under the condition of normal acceleration,
deceleration but the driving habits under real condition will lead to great difference in fuel
consumption.
Accelerating sharply and braking sharply: Accelerating sharply and braking sharply may
cause the fuel consumption to increase by 5%~30%. The regulated test does not allow this kind of
driving.
Long time idling: it is energy-consuming as long as the engine is running. Long time idling
will also do harm to the engine. Some drivers think that idling can preheat the engine, however
there is no good for energy saving and emissions.
Over speeding: Some drivers like to drive fast. In fact, driving at high speed will caused the
air resistance to increase greatly. According to the regulation, the highest speed is 120km/h in the
driving cycles. The fuel consumption will be high if the speed exceeds 120km/h.
(3) Maintenance
Bad maintenance will lead to deterioration of fuel consumption; such as the position of the
front wheel is wrong, the air filter is dirty, the oil degenerated etc. some automobile fans even
adjust the engines ignoring the precision adjusting of the manufacturers which will worsen the fuel
consumption.
(4) Quality of fuel
The heat value of fuel varies a lot, e.g. the heat value of ethanol is lower than gasoline. The
fuel consumption of the ethanol which is sold in some district in China is worse by 1~3% than the
gasoline. In addition, the heat value of fuel varies from season to season. A research by the United

388

States shows that the heat value in summer is 1.7% higher than the winter.
The fuel that the test uses is reference fuel, the indictors of which are stable so that the results
are easy to be compared. But it is still the typical fuel which is sold on the market.
The poor quality fuel, e.g. octane number does not qualify and too many impurities will not
only deteriorate the driving performance but also increase the fuel consumption or even damage
the engine. So the drivers should refueling their cars in the big stations.
(5) Difference between the vehicles
The difference of manufacture and assemblage will lead to the difference of fuel consumption
even the same type of vehicles. Generally speaking, this difference is very small but some drivers
think the opposite.
(6) Vehicles running
A good run-in vehicle can get the best fuel consumption. Usually 5,000 km is needed.

12.5

Conclusion

(1) The population of China automobiles increased from less than 2 million in 1999 to nearly 900
million at the end of 2007 with the growth rate of 12%~38% per year in average. Private cars have
surpassed 35 million and 8% families have their own cars. At present, China automobile
production and sales are only second to the United States and Japan, ranking third in the world.
China has become the second biggest car consumer only second to the United States all over the
world. Many cities have entered the automobile society.
(2) Although the number of accidents, death, injured and finical losses has decreased since
2003 and the road traffic conditions have improved a lot, the number of the accidents in our
country is still the biggest all over the word. The human factors are the main causes of the
accidents, by which nearly 90% death are caused. 70% death caused of the human factors is
because of the faults of the drivers. Technologies and management should be considered to reduce
the accidents.
(3)The implement of Fuel Consumption Limits of Passenger Cars and "Light Vehicle
Emission Limits and Measurement Methods" (China , stage) has reduced the gap between
China and developed countries in fuel consumption and emissions. 70% of the new vehicles
entered the market can meet the requirement of stage II and stage III emission standard. However,
the emissions on real road are not good. Take Beijing as an example which has the strictest
regulations, only 44% of the vehicles meet the EUII standard at the end of 2006 and 1% meet the
EUII standard. 1/3 vehicles are failed to pass the emission regulations.
(4) Safety, economy, environment protection should be considered when choosing the urban
traffic tools. Public traffic including the rail is the safest, cheapest and emitted less CO2 than other
tools. It is urgent for the China cities to establish the comprehensive traffic system in which public
transportation is the subject, rail transportation is dominant.
(5) Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technology is sustainable urban transportation
technologies which can save time, reduce traffic accidents, improve the utilization of existing
389

highways and reduce emissions. Intelligent vehicle technology is the main component of the ITS.
Through the comprehensive utilization of information perception, dynamic identification, control
technologies, we can realize the target of zero accident in the future. It also represents the
development of the future automobile safety technologies.
(6) In the future, the process of clean fuel and energy saving will be the competition between
conventional diesel, hybrid, biomass fuels and fuel cells as well as other alternative fuels or new
energy. It will also be a process that these kinds of automobiles make progress together. The
conventional internal engine vehicle will still be dominant before 2015 and the number of diesel
engines will increase in the European market or even into the United States market. Biomass fuels,
fuel cells and other alternative fuels will be developed greatly but will still be used little. Many car
makers face the pressure to reduce CO2 emissions so that considering promote the hybrid vehicles
which combine the current gasoline/diesel engines with the motors or batteries. HEVs will not be
the main choice before 2015 because of technology and cost, but still a long-term goal for many
companies.
(7) There are two ways to reduce the fuel consumption and emissions. First, strengthen the
management of the in-use vehicles, such as strengthen the fuel consumption and emission
regulations, promote the tax policies to encourage the energy-saving, low-emission vehicles and
limit the worsening in fuel consumption and emissions. Second, strengthen the correct use and
maintenance for in-use vehicles, such as regularly testing and maintenance, maintaining a certain
tire pressure, improving the use rate and good driving habits.

References
[1] Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau. 2006.12.13. Emission control of Beijing in-use
vehicles
[2] Chen Kaipin, Zhang Kailiang.1995.12. Vehicle maintenance and fault diagnosis. Beijing:
Machinery Industry Publishing Company
[3] China Automotive Industry Association(http://caam.org.cn)
[4] City Construction Archive of Guangzhou (http://www.gzuda.gov.cn/news)
[5] Duncan Austin, Niki Rosinski, Amanda Sauer, Colin le Duc.2003.Sustainable Asset
Management and the World Resources Institute. Changing Drivers: The Impact of Climate
Change on Competitiveness and Value Creation in the Automotive Industry
[6] http://www.fueleconomy.cn/, Energy-saving and Environmental Protection of China
Automobile.
[7] Homepage of Electronic Engineering (http://www.eettaiwan.com)
[8] Liu Guangyuan. 2004.12 Prevention of Road Injury Report. Beijing: Peoples Health Press.
[9] Merrill Lynch. 16 June 2005. Energy Security and Climate Change: Investing in the Clean Car
Revolution.
[10]Miranda Anderson, David Gardiner .Ceres, Inc. 2006.4.Climate Risk and Energy in the Auto
Sector: Guidance for Investors and Analysts on Key Off-balance Sheet Drivers
390

[11]Ni Hong. 2006.12.7. Present Situation and Development of Newly In-use Vehicle
Management in China. State Environmental Protection Administration of Motor Vehicle
Emissions Control Centre.
[12] Pei Yulong, Wang Wei. 2004. Causes and Prevention Strategy of Road Traffic Accident.
Beijing: Science Press
[13] Police Bureau Traffic Administration Bureau. Road Traffic Statistics of Peoples Republic of
China (1998~2007), Beijing.
[14]http://www.auto-stas.org.cn, Statistical Automobile Information by China Automotive
Association.
[15]Xu Kangming. Promotion the Development of BRT Sustainable Urban Mobility Project
[16]Zhao Boping, Sheng Zhiqian. Dominant Traffic Tools that Helpful to the Development of
Urbanization

391

Chapter 13 Performance Measures for Sustainable Urban

Mobility Planning
13.1

Objectives and principles of sustainable urban mobility

planning

Based on the definition of urban sustainable transport and insight of its connotation and
objectives, a set of indicators is proposed to evaluate the performance of urban transport system in
China. Several cities are selected for evaluation and evaluated and the feedbacks are provided to
these cities.

Figure 13.75 Research thought

To achieve the goals of sustainable mobility and to develop an applicable performance
measurement system of the sustainable urban mobility, the following principles were developed to
guide the development process:
Integration
Measures should form an integrated system to evaluate the features and levels of urban
transportations sustainable development from different aspects.

Objectivity
Measures are selected to ensure the objectivity and equity of the performance measurement
system; Data reliability and data accuracy are also major concerns of the system.

Applicability
Measures should be well defined and easy to understand and use, and describe the
complexity of the system. To utilize the existing data, statistical methods and related standards,
choose representative information.

Guidance
Measures are compatible with standards and guide the future urban transportation
development.

392

Comparability
Measures and data selection, and calculation algorithms are required to be representative and
comparable.

13.2

Literature

reviews

on

performance

measures

of

sustainable urban mobility

Typical indicators are reviewed, including: Canada STPI (2000), Germany COMPASS (2004),
Sweden Stockholm (2001), UK LTP indicators (LGA/DfT, 2004), Smooth Traffic Project
indicators (Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of Construction, 2005), and Southeast
University indicators (Wang Wei, 2002).

13.2.1 Comparisons of different performance measurement systems

Objectives and components of various performance measurement systems are synthesized and
compared.
Canada STPI (Sustainable Transport Performance Indicators)
This system evaluates the existing development and transportation policies, comprising 14
indicators, such as passenger and freight volume, road network, mode split, environment, energy,
injures and fatalities, etc.
Germany COMPASS (COMPAnies' and Sectors' path to Sustainability)
This system is to achieve the goals of economic efficiency, environmental protection and
social equilibrium. It is consisted of 15 indicators, including accessibility, infrastructures,
environmental influences, renewable energy, transportation equity, to name a few.
Sweden Stockholm indicators
The goal is to achieve equal amenities, long-term sustainable living conditions and
continuing international competitiveness. Indicators are chosen from 7 areas: accessibility,
environment, health, land use, housing, employment and other else.
UK LTP (Local Transport Plan) indicators
This system is used to evaluate the transportation plan and the existing practice, consists 21
indicators, including: accessibility, level of congestion, mode split, energy, environment,
transportation satisfaction and so on.
Smooth Traffic Project indicators (2005)
The smooth traffic project is initiated by Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of
Construction, with the goal of sustainable development of urban transportation. The performance
measurement system includes 10 categories: traffic management, land use, public transit, road
infrastructures, traffic safety etc.
Indicators proposed by Southeast University
This indicator system is proposed by scholars from Southeast University, China. It consists of
24 indicators within 4 categories: transportation function, socio-economics adaptability,
environmental influences, and energy consumption.

393

13.2.2 Typical sustainability indicators

Here lists some typical indicators in common use.
Transportation functionality and accessibility
Passenger and freight volume; passenger and freight turnover; average speed on arterial
roads; delays; average walking or cycling distance of students to school; annual increase of traffic
flow in peak hour; blockage rate of intersections; 90% of travel time; parking supply demand ratio
in city center.
Transportation infrastructure
Mileage of transportation networks; total number of parking; road network density; trunk and
secondary road density; road areas per capita; road areas per vehicle; pedestrian areas per capita;
urban road area ratio; number of parking per 100 vehicles.
Transportation mode split
Transportation mode share; peak hour mode split; public transit share rate.
Public transportation
Proportion of the population that are able to get to their place of work by public transport in a
forty minutes travel, bus passenger satisfaction; reliability and punctuality of transit system;
number of buses per 10,000 persons; empty driving rate of taxi; coverage area of transit.
Transportation and land use
Urban land use areas per capita; the proportion of land use area for transportation to
residence; spatial distribution of residence and employment; transportation impact evaluation.
Environmental impacts
Greenhouse gas; emission of particles and nitrogen oxides; noise exposure; number of days
with clean and healthy air.
Energy consumption
Energy use for transportation; proportion of used renewable energy; fuel consumption per
unit flow rate.
Policies and investments
Household transportation expenditure; transportation infrastructure investments.
Traffic safety
Traffic accident per 10 000 vehicles; fatalities per 10 000 vehicles.

13.2.3 Guidelines for indicator selection

The above indicators cover the aspects of social-economy, environment, energy and transportation
and other else including equity, integration of land-use and transport, satisfaction and so on.
Further more, the following features are important.

The indicators reflect the concept and the indication of sustainable transportation;
Indicators serve for the development objectives of sustainable transportation;
Indicators should cover each major characteristics of a sustainable transportation system;
Indicators should target the practical problems of Chinese urban transportation.

394

13.3

Indicators for sustainable urban mobility system

The multi-criteria evaluation system is organized hierarchically . The objectives were specified
based on the predetermined goals and those objectives were further decomposed into a number of
sub-objectives then translated into different indicators. This makes the system well structured and
could be extended with the increase of objectives.
Based on the concept and objectives of sustainable mobility, considering the actuality and
trend of Chinese cities development, the system is composed by following 5 areas and 20
indicators.
Table 13.22 Indicators for sustainable urban mobility planning
objectives
Transportation
function

Investment
and cost

Indicator

definition

I1

Road network
density (km/km2)

Ratio of roadway length in built-up region to its

total area.

I2

Resident average
travel time (min)

Resident average travel

transportation modes.

I3

Resident average
transfer time (min)

Transfer time at terminals in built-up area,

acquired by survey.

I4

Commute time by
public transit (min)

The average commuting time by public transit.

I5

Average speed on
arterial roads
(km/h)

Average speed on arterial roads at peak hour.

I6

300m radius
coverage ratio of
public transit
stations (%)

The ratio of the coverage area of public transit

stations with a 300-meter radius to the total area of
a built-up region.

I7

Public transit
network density
(km/km2)

Ratio of public transit miles in the built-up region

to its area.

I8

Parking berths
supply demand
ratio (%)

The ratio of parking supply to demand in the

center of a city.

I9

Proportion of
investment on
transportation
infrastructures to
GDP (%)

Percent
of
investment
on
fundamental
transportation infrastructures to GDP in recent 5
years.

395

time

using

all

Equity and
traffic safety

Energy and
environment

Government
efficiency and
capability

I10

Proportion of
investment on
public transit to that
on transportation
(%)

Percent of investment on public transit to that on

transportation fundamental infrastructures in
recent 5 years.

I11

Public transit
affordability (%)

Percent of residents monthly expenditure on

public transit to their monthly income.

I12

Household transport
cost index (%)

Percent of residents annual transportation

expenditure to their total expenditures.

I13

Pedestrian path area

per capita (m2/p)

Ratio of pedestrian pathway area in the build-up

region to urban population.

I14

Public transit and

non-motorized
mode share (%)

Public transit and non-motorized mode shares in

all residents trips.

I15

Proportion of
villages with public
transit routes (%)

Percent of villages with public transit to the total

number of village.

I16

Fatality rate (p/10

000 vehicles)

Annual fatalities per 10,000 vehicles

I17

Economic loss due

to accidents(10 000
yuan/10 000
vehicles)

Direct economic loss in traffic accidents per 10

000 vehicles.

I18

Fuel consumption
per vehicle
(t/vehicle)

Annual fuel consumption per vehicle.

I19

Pollutant emission
per vehicle
(kg/vehicle)

Annual pollutant emission per vehicle.

I20

Government
efficiency and
capability

It includes the following aspects: 1. coordination

agency (a government led establishment with
interjurisdictional cooperation); 2. Coordination
mechanism (regular meetings are held in order to
coordinate transportation planning, construction
and management etc); 3. Decision-making should
be processed in reasonable and democratic
manner; 4. Sustainable transportation development
strategies; 5. The priority of public transit; 6.
People-oriented transportation system construction

396

measures (the space for pedestrians and cyclists,

obstacle-free facilities).

13.4

Evaluation of sustainable urban mobility

13.4.1 City classification

Indicator values depend largely on the city scale and development level; therefore, it is necessary
to classify cities into various categories. The categories applied in Smooth Traffic Project 2005 are
as in Table 13.2.
Table 13.23 City classification in Smooth Traffic Project 2005
City type

GDP (100 million

yuan)

Mega

Population (10
thousand)

Beijing, Shanghai

>320

>200

>160

>110

>55

<110

>100

<55

<50

>50

In Table 13.2, the categories are determined by city scales, without consideration given to the
developing level of urban transportation. Therefore, we use cluster analysis to reclassify the cities.
Cluster Analysis is used to classify cities in this research. Clustering Analysis is a
multivariate statistical technique that arranges research data into mutually exclusive and
collectively exhaustive groups (or clusters) where the contents of each cluster are similar to each
other, but different to the other clusters in the analysis.
Systematic cluster analysis is the method commonly used in cluster analysis process, the
steps are as follows:
(1) Calculate the distance dij between n samples, and denote D ={ dij }. The typical Clustering
recursive formula is as follows:
2
2
2
Drk2 p D pk
q Dqk2 D pq
| D pk
Dqk2 |

(2) Conduct n categories which contain only one sample each;

(3) Combine the closest two categories into a new one;
(4) Calculate the distances between the new category and existing categories. If the total
number of categories is one, then go to step 5; otherwise go to step 3;

397

(5) Draw a clustering map;

(6) Determine the number of categories and remained categories.
We select GDP, population, road area and public transit passenger volume as the splitting
variables and classify the China central cities into four categories, as shown in Table 13.2.
Table 13.24 Classification of central cities in China
categor
y

Cities

description

Type I

Beijing, Shanghai

Mega-cities

Type II

Tianjin, Shenyang, Dalian, Changchun, Harbin,

Nanjing, Hangzhou, Jinan, Qingdao, Wuhan,
Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Chengdu, Xian

Type III

Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan, Ningbo, Hefei, Fuzhou,

Xiamen, Nanchang, Zhengzhou, Changsha, Nanning,
Guiyang, Kunming, Lanzhou

Medium scale; moderate

development in urban
transportation

Type IV

Haikou, Holhot, Urumqi, Xining, Yinchuan, Lhasa

Small scale; under developed

in urban transportation

Relatively large scale;

sufficient infrastructures;
prioritized transit
development.

13.4.2 Evaluation criteria

Evaluation criteria are determined according to the city categories. Here lists the criteria for Type
II city categories.
Table 13.25 Evaluation criteria for Type II city category
Measure

Level A

Level B

Level C

Level D

Level E

I1

18

24

30

40

50

I2

11

15

I3

20

30

40

50

60

I4

30

27

24

21

15

I5

90

80

70

60

50

I6

I7

0.85

0.7

0.55

0.4

I8

7.0

5.0

4.0

3.0

1.5

I9

25.0

15.0

10.0

5.0

1.0

I10

10

398

I11

12

16

20

25

I12

5.5

3.5

2.5

1.5

0.5

I13

95

90

85

75

60

I14

100

98

95

90

85

I15

10

I16

15

25

35

50

I17

1.2

1.5

1.8

2.5

I18

150

180

210

250

300

I19

Table 13.5 Description of each measure

I1

Avg. travel time (min)

I2

Connection time (min)

I3

Avg. travel time by transit (min)

I4

Avg. traveling speed on arterial (km/h)

I5

Coverage area of transit stationwith a 300-meter radius (%)

I6

Road Network Density (km/km2)

I7

Proportion of parking supply vs. demand (%)

I8

Proportion of infrastructure investment vs. GDP(%)

I9

Proportion of transit investment vs. transportation infrastructure

investment (%)

I10

Transit affordability rate (%)

I11

Proportion of family transportation cost vs. total cost (%)

I12

Avg. pedestrian lane per person (square meter/ person )

I13

Share of transit and non-motor vehicle travel mode (%)

I14

Proportion of counties with transit vs. counties without transit (%)

I15

Fatality rate (person/10,000 vehicles)

I16

Direct accident cost (10,000 yuan/ 10,000 vehicles)

I17

Fuel consumption rate (Tons/ vehicle )

I18

Atmosphere Pollutant density (kg/vehicle)

399

I19

Urban transport Management capability

I20

Urban transport Management capability

13.4.3 Determination of Indicators weight

The weight of indicators is the relative importance of each indicator used in the evaluation
process. Analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is commonly used to determine the weight of
indicators. AHP is an approach to decision making that involves arranging multiple choice criteria
into a hierarchical structure, assessing the relative importance of these criteria, comparing
alternatives for each criterion, and determining an overall ranking of the alternatives.

13.4.4 Comprehensive evaluation method

13.4.4.1 Quantification of qualitative measures
Based on the understanding of each measure, we set up a reference table with various levels in
accord with definition and specific condition of each measure. At the same time, specify the
thresholds for each level. Then assign values to the measure according to that table.

13.4.4.2 Standardization of indicators

The following are some typically used standardization methods (Zeng Zhenxiang, 2000):
Linear standardization method It is assumed that the dimensionless value varies
proportionally with the indicator value. The commonly used methods are as follows:

Z-Score:

yi

xi x
s

Where, s is the standard deviation, x is average of samples.

Max-Min Limit

yi

xi xmin
xmax xmin

Where, xmin, xmax are the worst and best values respectively.
Piecewise Linear standardized method If the effect of indicators value on the evaluation
result changes with indicator ranges, piecewise linear standardized method will be applied to
standardize measures.
Curve standardized methodThis method is applied to describe the non-linear association of
indicator values with evaluation results, approximately.

13.4.4.3 Fuzzy pattern recognition evaluation method

Fuzzy pattern recognition evaluation method is applied to the comprehensive evaluation process.
The main idea is to calculate the degree of membership of predefined levels where level 1

400

indicates the best while level 5 indicates the worst. The steps are as follows (Hu Yonghong, 2000):
(1) Determine the standardization matrices of indicator values and threshold values. Denote
Xmn , Yn5 as the matrices of indicator values and threshold values respectively, where m is the
number of samples, and n is the number of indicators, then calculate the standardization
matrix (Rmn) of indicator values and membership matrix (Sn5) of threshold values.
(2) Calculate the weight of indicators.
(3) Calculate the membership vector of sample i to h-level. Weighted Euclidean distance is
used to evaluate the differences between sample i and level h.

dih

w r
j

j 1

ij

s jh

1/ 2

Conduct an optimization model as follows:

bi

2
min F U ih uih dih
h ai

s.t.

bi

h ai

ih

The result is:

bi

uih d g d
k ai

2
ih

2
ik

dih 0

ai h bi

Where Uih is the optimal degree of membership of sample i; ai and bi are the upper and
lower limits of sample i comparing with the levels of membership matrix, respectively.
(4) Calculate the score of sample i.

H i ui gS * ui1 , ui 2 ,..., uic g S1* , S 2* ,..., Sc*

(5) Results and analysis.

13.5

Application and case studies

13.5.1 A Paradigmatic Case

Three cities are selected in the case study, denoted as A, B and C respectively.
A is a minor provincial city located in the north of China, with a population of 2.78 million.
At the end of year 2005, the GDP reached 150 billion yuan, road area totaled 1 794 km2, and the
public transit rider ship was 1.12 billion.
B is a provincial capital located in the north of China, with a population of 4.92 million. At
the end of year 2005, the GDP reached 168 billion yuan, total road area was 3.525 km2, and the
public transit passenger volume was 1.05 billion.
C is a coastal city locating in the south of China, with a population of 2.1 million. At the end

401

of year 2005, the GDP reached 126 billion yuan, total road area was 1.459 km2, and the public
transit passenger volume was 0.325 billion.
According to the city classification, city A, city B and city C all belong to the Type II
category.

13.5.2 Evaluation
Constrained by the data availability, some of indicators are quite difficult to acquire. For this
reason, the following five indicators are not included in this case study: (1) resident average
transfer time; (2) public transit affordability; (3) household transport cost; (4) fuel consumption
per vehicle; (5) pollutant emission per vehicle. As a result, four categories of indicators, 15
indicators in total were used in the initial evaluation process. According to the investigation, the
values of indicator for each city are listed in the following table:
Table 13.26 Indicators and values
City A

City B

City C

I1

5.97

10.56

5.66

I2

29.42

35.11

18.94

I4

29.42

41

22.46

I5

25.7

21.2

20.6

I6

66

80

72

I7

4.54

5.68

5.88

I8

0.87

0.82

0.75

I9

2.1

5.3

I10

10.6

5.8

4.8

I13

2.85

1.87

2.51

I14

93.6

86.9

85.42

I15

100

100

98

I16

7.6

6.5

8.31

I17

21.93

48.8

13.55

I20

The weights of indicators are determined using AHP as follows:

Table 13.27 Weight of indictors

objectives

weight

indicators

weight

Adjusted weight

Transportation

0.414

I1

0.089

0.037

402

function

Investment

Equity and

0.233

0.233

traffic safety

Government efficiency

0.120

I2

0.178

0.073

I4

0.213

0.088

I5

0.16

0.066

I6

0.121

0.05

I7

0.08

0.033

I8

0.16

0.066

I9

0.333

0.078

I10

0.667

0.155

I13

0.123

0.029

I14

0.281

0.065

I15

0.175

0.041

I16

0.281

0.065

I17

0.14

0.033

I20

0.12

0.12

and capability
The evaluation process is conducted to compare the performance of urban transport system in
the case cities.

Figure 13.76 Evaluation results of case cities

In general city A is better than city B, and city B is better than city C. Also the analysis
suggests for city C, it is necessary to put emphasis on the investment of transportation

403

infrastructures, at the same time to improve traffic management in order to decrease fatalities.

13.6

Conclusions

Sustainable urban mobility system is the basis to realize the resource-conserving, environmentfriendly and people-oriented society. The challenge we are facing is how to define and evaluate
the performance of sustainable urban transportation system in China. According to the definition
and objectives of sustainable urban mobility, we proposed 20 indicators in 5 categories:
transportation function, funding and financing, equity and traffic safety, energy consumption and
environment, transportation management and government efficiency and capability. These
indicators were applied in three typical cities to evaluate the performance of the sustainable urban
mobility system.

References
[1] Canada STPI. 2000. Sustainable Transportation Performance Indicators.
[2] LGA/DfT Working Group. 2004. Proposed definitions for mandatory Local Transport Plan
indicators.
[3] Office of Regional Planning and Urban Transport Stockholm. 2001. Sustainable Development
Regional Indicators.
[4] Reinhart kuhne. 2004. CompassReport Cards for Mobility.
[5] Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Construction, China. 2005. Indicators for Urban
Traffic Management.
[6] Hu Yonghong, He Sihui. 2000. Comprehensive Evaluation Method, Beijing: Science Press.
[7] Wang Wei, Chen Xuewu, Lu Jian. 2002. Research on Theory of urban sustainable
transportation system, Beijing: Science Press.
[8] Zeng Zhenxiang, Gu Peiliang. 2000. Systematic Analysis and Evaluation of Sustainable
Transport, Beijing: Science Press.

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Chapter 14 Additional Chapter A Treasury of Expert

Viewpoints
In order to ensure the quality and high level of research findings of the urban sustainable transport
study carried out by Tsinghua University, the project team has set up an academic steering
committee made up of this countrys leading experts of concerned areas. The project team has also
convoked two academic conferences to evaluate the research findings as well as point out the
limitations in the study.
As our level of research is limited, this book can hardly embody all the experts viewpoints in
previous studies. Therefore, we sorted out the speeches given by some main experts at the two
meetings as an additional chapter to this book. We hope it can, on the one hand, serve as important
references to relative study and decision-making areas, on the other hand, guide the project team
to further develop their work.

Wang Qingyun (Director of the Traffic Division of the National

Development and Reform Commission)
Sustainable transport should take account of ethics, logic and
natural laws
The study of sustainable transport consists of three aspects: ethics, logic and the laws of nature. It
concerns the humanities, natural science as well as social science, and should be treated within the
intersection of these domains. In view of current situation of urban transport study, research
carried out within this country employs natural science much more systematically than social
science and ethics. Two examples well illustrate this viewpoint:
1. How to deal with the relationship among value, goal, short-term mission and immediate
interests? On the one hand it belongs to the social science area; on the other hand it also concerns
the humanities and natural science. First of all, value explains the orientation. If the orientation of
value is not definite, later work would be very hard to launch. In our countrys case, goal and
short-term mission are often in contradiction with value due to ambiguous orientation, which has
caused very significant errors. The orientation of value is not only a philosophic problem but also
a practical one.
2. Standards of sustainability: planning or anti-planning. OECD (organization for economic
co-operation and development) has a set of standards of sustainability, which whereas seems so
narrow that might impede our countrys development. Currently there are two kinds of voice, and
the heaviest impact to sustainability comes from the anti-planning sect, which insists a set of
original eco-friendly standards instead of modern ones. How to strike a balance between the two
sets of standards will directly affect the orientation of value.

Sustainable transport in macroscopic, medium and microscopic

view
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From the viewpoint of theoretical achievement, macroscopic work should be the breakthrough
point of the study. The key problem is how to deal with the relationship between transport and
economy, human and society and natural environment. If transport is unsuitable to the
development of economy and society, the whole national economy will suffer from a decrease in
efficiency and complains would be heard everywhere. If this major premise doesnt exist, there is
no need to talk about sustainability further. And currently there exist many problems in our
transport system which affects the whole economy as well as the peoples daily life. This problem
is exactly macroscopic.
From the medium point of view, the study should be concentrated on the development of
transport system as well as its relationship with other fields. Specifically, it concerns how to
coordinate the relationship between transport and human, environment and nature. To a specific
city, transport planning might be the only factor needing to be considered. But in the nationwide or
even international context, it is of vital importance to also have transport planning and policies in
coordination with other important economic issues such as energy, regional development planning
etc.
The work of microscopic level is the coordination of different parts within the transport
system itself. It at least includes three aspects: first, the coordination of different transport modes,
in the words, how to make all kinds of transport modes to work integrally and meet the
requirements of sustainability, of which the solution might be sought via optimizing the structure
or distribution of resources. Second, it concerns the sustainability within different sub-entities of
the whole transport system. In our countrys case, this might be a much heavier problem to deal
with because in every transport mode in our country is still in its initial stage and stays imperfect:
in the context of nationwide transport network, perfection means that the spacial distribution of
basic transport networks of transport modes such as highway, railway, and port are finished as
planned. For example, the national planning for highway is to construct a total length of 82000
km in 20~30 years. If done, the highway network, which would only take up 5% of the total route
length, can absorb more than 25%of the transport volume. Problems such as internal
intensification, management of scale and modernization will also be solved. Other modes such as
railway, civil aviation, will be in more or less the same situation. Especially the civil aviation, the
indicators such as energy-saving and exhaust will be drastically enhanced when all the facilities
are well constructed.

Land is the primary constraint of transport

The two main constraints of urban transport are energy and land. As to the sustainability of
transport, energy might appear to be less important than the other constraint for the energy is a
more ideal issue which would only make sense in an international context, but locally speaking
land is a very limited resource. How to maintain the sustainability of land?
Taking the USA for example, railways were well constructed with strict engineering
specifications so that land can be reutilized for production once they are removed. In our countrys
case, tracks of transport modes such as railway between Beijing and Tianjin are supported by
myriads of bridges and culverts with piles penetrating 50 to 70 m into the ground. Such
engineering projects have already affected the underground water system. From the viewpoint of

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sustainability, it is hard to imagine removing such facilities without doing any harm to other
underground facilities. We are facing the same kind of problem in the high speed railway project
between Beijing and Shanghai. The key point is: how to define the term sustainability in such a
way that can be used to judge which project is allowed while others are not. As to transport, urban
transport on the one hand is important, on the other hand, the use of land would be another key
problem.

Urban transport planning must comply with the national strategy

of macro-transportation
The development of urban transport should comply with the national macro-transportation
strategy. In the short term, our state has three strategic objectives: first, to complete the transport
infrastructure network in the short term; second, to provide public transport service at low cost,
satisfy the economic demand as well as general peoples daily travel; third, to improve the level of
technology and management with best means.

The sustainability of urban transport should be studied from four

aspects
First from the aspect of economy, we need to study which way can best fit our states basic
condition and most economically efficient, and how to develop it? Second, in the light of
sociology, we need to discuss the balance between efficiency and equity. Third, in the viewpoint of
ecology, we would also have to study the equilibrium between environment and development;
fourth, in the light of genealogy, we must discuss how to set up a set of indicators to evaluate the
degree of development, coordination and sustainability of such developing countries as China,
regardless of the existing system of the western countries. Factors of sustainable transport should
also be incorporated in the study.

Governing factor such as slow variables should be represented

When talking about transport, especially sustainable transport, there must be a governing factor.
However, among myriads of factors, where should the most important governing factors be
reflected? In transport industry, we sometimes call these governing factors the slow factor,
which is defined as the key factor that affects the development of a thing. For example, in a
backward economy, basic transport infrastructure is the slow factor as opposed to transport
equipment and operation management. After the basic infrastructure and transport equipment is
development to some extent, the slow factor might shift to peoples concern and level of transport
service. Which stages do these slow factors belong? How are they reflected in respective stage?
What might be the impact upon the development of sustainable urban transport? All these
questions are worth more detailed discussion.

WULIANGYONG (Professor, School of Architecture, Tsinghua

University, Academician, Chinese Academy of Science, Chinese
Academy of Engineering)

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 Regionalization is the general trend for urban development and

we shall not study cities separately
The sustainable development of urban traffic is a comprehensive cross-disciplinary research
project. People with different majors in different fields gather together to do this, the general
direction is correct and we have a good start too. Currently, traffic issues loom large. The problem
we face is that the economy and urbanization grow rapidly, which means small cities grow into
big cities, while big cities into mega cities. Regionalization becomes the general trend for urban
development and the problem is an urgent one. In the scope of our research, a conflict become
increasingly intense, for on the one hand, were satisfied with our progress and achievements, but
on the other hand, we have this feeling that our scientific research doesnt meet the actual needs.
Of course, this is a very difficult issue and the experts in all relevant fields must take a broader
perspective to handle the issue for a comprehensive and complete consideration.
The sustainable traffic development is closely related to regional traffic growth, at the same
time, the relationship between traffic development and land use is also a big issue. The keynote
report discusses the situation in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region and we should focus on the specific
conditions in the region as well as what we should do. As for more developed regions, including
the Pearl River Delta Area, the Yangtze River Delta Area, and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, we
should consider how to achieve a harmonious development; and in the region west to Taiwan
Strait, which also falls into the category of regional development. Traffic issues shall not be
discussed separately based on individual cities. Just now, Mr. Wang also mentioned that the
integration of high-speed traffic systems in Beijing and Shanghai will result in a series of changes.
Our research has significant importance and thats for sure; but the urban issues are extremely
complicated. The issues that Beijing has to deal with are different from those that Tianjin faces.
We participated in the planning of Tianjin and we did it by adopting a regional perspective so as to
have a better understanding of the city by going beyond the geographical boundary.

Two factors of both planned and free development contribute to

urban development
The development of a modern city cannot attribute to planned development alone, for two factors
contribute to urban development and planned development is only one of them. Taking the city of
Beijing as an example, the inner city area develops according to plans while the outer areas
develop freely. There are many uncertainties here; to put these uncertainties into fixed models, no
plan can do that one hundred percent, for therere always different actual conditions. The Master
Plan of Beijing in 2004 is well done and highly praised by Prime Minister Mr. Wen Jiabao, but
now we know there are still many problems in it. For example, to plan is to integrate, while to
carry out is to specify; to plan shall be based on an overall interests, while to carry out is to base
on the separate interests of individual departments.

We shall focus on basic theoretical studies and on scientific

forecast
We shall focus on scientific forecast to get the whole picture; the value of our work is to make

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scientific predictions. To develop underground traffic system in such a big city, weve got to have
a strategic plan. Then how about current development, its fine so far. To spend more money right
now is better than more investment is required for redevelopment in future. As of today, I still
want to emphasize the importance of strategic planning. The cross-disciplinary studies are
extremely difficult to be fruitful. In early 1980s, Professor Qian Xuesen organized a crossdisciplinary conference, but from that time till today, the achievements obtained in the field are
very limited. Cross-disciplinary study is not an easy task and we actually havent made up our
mind on it. In order to help the government to provide solutions to some strategic state issues,
weve got to start from the research on basic theories so as to achieve transition in both guiding
principles and strategic guidelines. Furthermore, weve got to have long-term perspective and to
obtain short-term achievements, which should be specifically and clearly defined. And thats all I
want to say.

I hope the work will continue in a sustainable way

The project integrates six relevant disciplines and we spend 30 months starting from the
investigation and study of ten cities before focusing on three aspects of theoretical studies, pilot
projects, and policy suggestions. The strategic planning of the project proves to be correct,
achieving concrete conclusions, in-depth understandings, and positive fruits. During the process of
the research, a team composed of PhD graduates serves as the leading force and the project
produces many talents. These are valuable experiences that we should treasure.
I hope the work will continue in a sustainable way and hope that the researchers will choose
some more developed areas, such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei or the coastal areas in Tianjin or
Langfang area, so as to promote further development on a comprehensive and integrated way. As
for city planning and land use, an overall problem-oriented strategic planning is required, and the
final goal is to propose key strategies and feasible action guidelines.

Ni Weidou (Professor of Department of Thermal Engineering,

Tsinghua University, members of China Academy of Engineering)
Cross-disciplinary research should grasp the characteristics and
reality of China
The research of SUMO should not talk traffic only from the perspective of traffic, or talk urban
mobility only from the perspective of urban mobility. It should take the characteristics of Chinas
overall socio-economic development as the precondition. In this context, the research should
firstly consider the overall traffic in China, and then consider urban mobility.
Urban sustainable mobility is one part of the national sustainable mobility, and also one part
of sustainable development of the whole country. They are interlaced together as a whole. So
cross-integration is very important, and it should be deep-seated. The project is designed for
China, and must have the characteristics of China, grasp the characteristics of China. It should
study in-depth how to hold Chinas urban sustainable mobility under the actual situation of China.
Otherwise, it will be very difficult to discuss integration only from the perspective of integration.

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 Must have a total demand control, must have a strict macrocontrol self-disciplinary mode
The characteristics of China are thin foundation, huge population, few resources and uneven
regional distribution of resources, weak ecological systems and serious environmental pollution.
Now newspaper reports, as the Spring Festival is coming, how should the railway departments to
be ready for it, and how to control the price of ticket. In Spring Festival, National Day, Labor Day,
and vacation of students, the population need to be transported will be hundreds of millions, which
does not happen elsewhere in the world. Although for each person the trip increased is only 100 or
200 km, but for all people, the total trip increased will be enormous. Therefore, it is absolutely
necessary to have a scientific forecast and the government's macro-control!
I feel our country's macro-control should be very strict, because the resources are too few to
satisfy so many people whose appetite is such a great, and definitely the resources could not be
consumed up all of a sudden! We need a macro-control to guide economic development. The
degree of macro-control is very important, and it should be a very strict.
I feel transportation planning should also have a total demand control. In some developed
regions, people prefer to go out by air even for tourism. But obviously, China did not have the
strength to support that. Total demand control from national level must be taken as the
precondition in finding out what is the most reasonable way to develop traffic, and what is the
sustainable configuration of urban mobility.
Our arrangement of traffic development should have our own mode. When give lectures
outside, I mention the problems whether China's development should take A mode or B mode. A
mode is the mode we adopted in the last 20 years since the Reforming and Opening, which
means to greatly consume resources and energy, and is hard to be sustained. B mode is to
emphasize conservation of resource and energy, suppress excessive demand and further
deterioration of the environment and ecology with nationwide mobilization. Now the Ministry of
Water Resource of China also proposed a C mode and called it the "China model", also called
self-disciplinary model. It means from central to local, every department, everyone must be selfdiscipline in the consumption of resources and energy. And it is very important for future
sustainable development.
Various traffic departments should gradually use some energy consumption indicators, such
as energy consumption per capita per kilometer. I have studied the consumption of liquid fuel by
air from Tsinghua University to Shanghai Jiaotong University, and found it is up to 83 liters.
Chinese people have not been rich enough to take aircraft and cars as the major traffic tool for
everyone. We should calculate the energy consumption indicators of aircraft, cars, railway and
subway, and put them into the price system. Price system is not to simply calculate the price of
one liter oil, but to oriented add sufficient weight in peoples decision-making, to guide people to
choice traffic tool of minimum energy consumption through economic means. This is the only
possible way to bring better sustainability for energy supply.

Traffic problems are very complicated, and there are many other
410

problems need be studied besides technology

Now traffic is a very complicated issue. Taken the bus fare in Beijing as an example, the bus fare
of 40 cents is to guide people to take bus more, but the effect seems not too much. Why? Recently
the students are in vacation, and we feel the traffic congestion is relieved a lot. It is because
parents usually have to use cars to send their children to primary and secondary schools, and it
explains that traffic problems and social problems are related. About the DME bus demonstration
in Shanghai, yesterday I phoned Prof. Huang Zhen in Shanghai Jiaotong University, and was told
it is not easy to promote as a very complicated system-engineering. For the future mode of urban
mobility, we have a lot of things to do in addition to technology.

He Jiankun (Ex deputy president of Tsinghua University, Vice

Director of Tsinghua University School Board)
Promote

cross-discipline

integration

further,

strengthen

comprehensive research
The current research is short of comprehensive research in a sort of way. All of the six teams are
limited in own discipline areas, lack of comprehensive balance among different disciplines. What
is sustainable mobility and how to define sustainable mobility? It is also very difficult. Nowadays,
the worlds development is unsustainable, it is also hard to say that the development pattern of
China is sustainable. Sustainable development should be totally based on renewable resources to
make it sustainable. Consuming limited resources of the earth is hard to be sustainable. The
development process should continuously transform from unsustainable to sustainable pattern. The
policy should gradually get close to sustainability, rather than depart from sustainability further. It
would be quite a long and slow process.
The transportation in China is in such a situation. I dont think its easy to make our current
transportation to be sustainable by just one-time policy project. Though currently there are many
unsustainable aspects, the idea and development orientation should look toward sustainability
rather than depart from it. Besides, most solutions actually are kind of tradeoff, that means getting
a whole picture of the relationships from different angles and then weighing all these. For
example, nowadays, Chinas petroleum is in short supply and needs to import, or we can develop
some alternative fuels, say, coal-based fuel to substitute petroleum. This might fit for energy
situation, but might cause some other problems as well. Substituting petroleum with coal-based
fuel would double CO2 emission. And this isnt considered to be sustainable from the environment
point. So there should be a balance on the overall situation and the solution depends on the target
problem.
Some ways now used to tackle transport problems might cause some inconveniences. To
achieve a higher trip convenience might bring more costs. Each family owns cars or access public
transport means within 5 minutes might cause unreasonable land-use or road design difficulty.
Some ideas are very good, but the price and cost are very high and economically unsustainable.
Finding a reasonable solution to solve transport problem is under constraints for any city. There is
no best nor one and only answer for the problem. In a word, tradeoff is the way.
We often make mistakes on the road to balance, and get more and more unsustainable. The

411

purpose of this research is to make a right choice in such a complex weighing. The choice made
might not achieve sustainability in one step, but will get closer and closer. There are many modes
to choose in the process of rapid industrialization and urbanization. Once the construction
completed, the transport pattern is locked. For example, most of the supermarkets in United States
are located in suburbs, so living there without cars is impossible. Many countries like Japan often
have small markets or stores in the city, and therefore many private cars neednt to be necessary.
Once the city layout is fixed, the transport pattern is locked. So there is an urgent need for a
forward-looking research in these areas. We should find out a good solution in the sustainable
direction under the current situation. This research should be an integrated comprehensive
research. Except the current 6 research teams, I suggest building a special integration team to
conduct transport research over the 6 teams from the point of sustainable development of the
country and the city.

Improve macro horizon further and strengthen strategy research

This research covers broad fields, including both micro-level research and macro ideas and policy
researches, and it will produce notable fruits. Currently, the government is organizing some
forward-looking research projects, for example, the State Energy Office is organizing national
energy strategy research, departments concerned are also working on national development
strategy after primary well-off stage in 2020 our society achieved . The result of this research also
could provide some supports for these researches.
Could the current research go further from the point of higher macro level or more strategic
point? The state now begins building a resources-saving and harmonious socialism society. From
the points of both resources and GHG emission, todays China can not trace along the path of
realizing modernization through high energy and resources consumption, which developed
countries had come through in the past. To realize modernization the energy consumption for each
Chinese person is estimated to be 5 or 6 tons per year just like in most developed countries, but
surely we can not get enough energy from the world to make that true. Besides, now GHG
emission is restricted all over the world. Suppose someday global temperature increase be
controlled no more than 2, then the global GHG emission in 2050 would be decreased by 50%
compared with today. The world wouldnt allow China to choose the old modernization pathway
which developed countries had been through. Obviously there is no such international and
domestic environment for China to do that.
What kind of consumption pattern and producing mode should China adopt to realize
modernization in such a situation? Nowadays, as for the energy consumption structure of
developed countries, the industry sector share is declining, while resident consumption,
construction and transport accounts for a rather big share. With such international and domestic
background, China could not follow the consumption patter of developed countries to have a car
for everyone. Whatever consumption patterns and development patterns that could support our
modernization should be the ideas and patterns that we use to guide the people and be the layouts
we bring forward. Most of these researches are undertaken in social science field. Most of those
outputs are basically too idealistic to be implemented. On the other hand, we are too technical to
hold macro level horizon. China will primarily realize modernization by 2050 with GDP per capita
of $10,000 at fixed price of year 2000. Under that circumstance, what kind of transport pattern is

412

sustainable for China? These issues should be covered and deeply researched in the study.
Anyway, the United States pattern could never work.

Five thoughts about this book

1Aim and system of sustainable mobility
A pie chart from the research team demonstrates sustainable transportation aim from the angle of
energy, environment, urban planning and city administration. Each angle has different aim
orientation. This analysis method is great. For a sustainable transport system, the major aim
orientation might differ among different areas and in different development stages. For example,
the aim of Beijing and Langfang might be different, and it also differs in initial urbanization stage
and modernization achieved stage. How to tradeoff among those aims and which aim is most
important in a given stage? Or in a stage when a new contradiction shows, new aim might become
more important.
Among the aims and factors considered, parts of them are just factors bringing some
influences, like trip convenience, which we hope it better. Some others might be hard constraints,
like the land of Beijing, the transport infrastructure available. The hard constraints can not be
broken through, all the solutions must go with hard constraints. These aims might be different
from what we expect to improve. Especially from long run, energy resources supply and carbon
emission under climate change will become hard constraints. These constraints can not be
overstepped, and the influence of these constraints on the aim choice and sustainable transport
pattern choice is totally different from those of general value orientation. This kind of aim analysis
differs much among different areas and development stages. Each aims influence on sustainable
transportation rests with whether it will become a hard or soft constraint. The six researches
should be summed up and upgraded to a clear aim interpretation and which problem is the most
important be decided in different situations.
The urban sustainable transport system is also a dynamic system continuously developed and
improved with different aims at different development stage. We might finally have an ideal
sustainable transport system that might be realized after modernization in the mid of this century
or the end of this century. This ideal system will be totally supported by renewable energy and is
both environmentally friendly and meets residents demand to most extent. We are now facing
many constraints, and many patters which have taken shape and could not be changed in days.
Therefore, building sustainable transportation system is a developing and evolution process of
transforming toward sustainable transport system. Some measures in near future might not be the
final aim of sustainable transport and some of them are even offset against the final aim.
Nevertheless, we could make better than current situation and make a change in the future. Take
sustainable transport as a dynamic evolution process, choose stage measures according to the final
aim, prove from 6 dimensions, and finally make an enhancement. This is a question about aim.
2Strategic thinking about sustainable mobility construction
The sustainable transportation project researches starts in three levels, including from urbanization
pattern to urban traffic system. The idea is great. Besides this, whether is it possible to broaden the
question field? Think from the point of social and economy development and overall level. The
research has touched on this, but I think it is not enough. The purpose of transport research itself is

413

to ensure a convenient, efficient and environmentally-friendly system. But from the point of
society and economy, it should also guide trip demand and consumption pattern, and this might be
a very important idea in the future sustainable transport system.
Taking freight for example, the future freight must relate with industrial distribution. The
freight volume and GDP per capita of Japan is higher than that of United States. On the contrary,
fright volume per capita of United States is higher than that of Japan. Because the land area of
United States is larger than that of Japan and the freight volume needed in the producing process is
bigger. China, like United States rather than Japan, with a large land area, the resources is located
in western area, the central industrial distribution along the coast area. The transport volume is
rather huge and a large amount of energy is exhausted. From the point of sustainable
transportation, the industrial distribution should be guided in the future.
For passenger transport, how to provide healthy trip mode and how to guide the demand
should be considered which might also relate with city planning idea. For example, Tiantongyuan
community, the so-called sleeping town, hundreds of thousands of people sleep there in the night
but work outside in the daytime. From the point of traffic organization, how to provide convenient
traffic service for this area is urgent. On the other hand, from the point of city function, this layout
might not be the most reasonable. In United States and some other developed countries, people
live in one place, but the markets are located in other far away places with huge parking lots.
Every weekend, all the people have to drive a long way to the market place for shopping. If there
are more convenient shops in the living area, this kind of traffic would reduce a lot. The car
ownership per capita of Japan is not lower than that of United States, but the mileage per capita
car is only half of that of United States. The peoples trip mode influences traffic congestion and
energy consumption greatly.
As a whole, economy development pattern, urbanization layout and peoples consumption
pattern and demand have strong influence on future sustainable mobility. If limited in the supply
point and following the developed countries pattern, the traffic demand will be far from saturation
with the population increase and urbanization process, and this will lead to a more difficult
position. Like the energy saving case in China, some demand side change is more effective, which
is much more fruitful than energy supply exploitation.
Another point is how to carry through people-orientated? The consumption orientated does
not mean meet peoples desire immoderately. Some desires are related with morality. For example,
you have a BMW, then I must have a Benz to catch up with you, which is an extravagant and vain
consumption. To meet this kind of desire leads more energy and traffic resources use and more
pollution emission, which infringes upon others to some extent. Guiding demand to a healthy trip
pattern and right transport perception is a very important philosophy in consumption field. We
should strengthen demand guidance.
3Policies for sustainable mobility
Policy guidance is very important. It is also in sustainable mobility. The policy action points differ
among different areas and development stages. Policy guidance aims at major problems, like
public transport priority in Beijing for traffic congestion. Someone in Beijing Auto Corporation
told me that the time used for buses and private cars from one end to another of ChangAn Street
now are the same. This policy is effective. Langfang might not need public transport priority, for
the traffic is not that congested there. At some stage, solving traffic congestion is the most

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important. And from long-run, energy saving and emission reduction might be the focus. In some
areas, the focus might be reasonable land-use and function distribution. Different areas have
different focus and different policy guidance correspondingly. Nearly each of the 6 parts in this
book has offers some policy suggestions. In my opinion, firstly, an integration sum-up is needed
and secondly, the content is not that specific.
Taking energy for example, the price might be the major problem. The gasoline price in
China is relatively cheaper compared with other countries. The tax share in the price in China is
lower than 10%, but 50~70% of the energy price is tax in European countries. Raising petroleum
price will definitely reduce private car trip. The rich has more cars and the poor has less. It is the
rich that will take the cost after raising energy price. If every people in Beijing has car, price raised
is hard to be carried through for the disapprobation from the majority. Therefore, for some policy
guidance the earlier it is considered, the better is the result.
The vehicles energy consumption or emission standard, which is the CO2 emission per
100km or oil consumption per 100km, is another point. Most of the delivery capacity of vehicles
produced in Italy is small, so the government supports strict emission standard. Germany, with
large delivery capacity vehicle produced, is against strict standards. The auto industry is just at its
early developing stage in China. The relatively strict emission standard formulated recently is a
signal for the auto industry which means the vehicle in China should be economical rather than
luxury. In China, there are a lot of official cars, the absolute number of the rich is also big, though
the relative ratio is not that much. There might be rather huge amount of luxury cars unless some
limitation served. With early emission standards guidance, economical vehicles might be
dominating. In a word, in policy analysis, is it possible to integrate policy discussion in all the
parts to be more comprehensive and more specific?
4For sustainable mobility philosophy and moral norms
Developing sustainable mobility should be not limited to the now 6 disciplines, besides these,
behavior philosophy and moral norms also are very important. In promoting sustainable mobility
construction, propaganda, education and right public opinion guidance are very important.
Especially in the school, how to educate the young might decide the consumption pattern selection
of several generations in the future. We should guide the publics trip mode selection with
sustainable philosophy and strengthen related propaganda and education. Is it possible to give
priority to this point? For example, to cope with climate change CO2 emission be reduced, energy
wasting leads more CO2 emission and others emission space infringed upon. This is not only
personal behavioral style, but also a moral problem. Its peddling to spit in rural areas. But in the
city, on the street, this is a moral problem. Is it possible to have those kinds of propaganda and
education in this book?
5Some long-run thoughts on sustainable mobility
Based on the whole project, could we have a long-run thinking about sustainable mobility, not
only limited to the current problems? The future economy and society development and reform
will have a great influence on transportation. Nowadays, climate change has gradually become the
focus of the whole world, involved which nearly all important international meetings have some
sessions. Climate change might cause great social reform in the future. Why? To protect global
climate, GHG emission and fossil energy consumption reduction is greatly needed. On the other

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hand, Chinas development needs more energy supply. Therefore, there must be low-carbon
economy system, consumption system and energy technology system. Besides these, even without
climate change, the worlds energy and environment capacity could hardly satisfy the
modernization need of China with several folds of more population more than developed
countries. Therefore, to break through the bottleneck constraint of future global resources and
environment, we should go on the way of low-carbon development. In the global low-carbon
development transformation, not only China, all the developed countries also have to face great
social reform, including reform on production, consumption, moral norm and behavior
philosophy. The future transport system must comply with this reform tendency, sustainable
mobility system must be a low-carbon transport system to ensure resources sustainability in the
future. Therefore, the current sustainable mobility system design must transform to this tendency.
Currently, low-carbon transport system might not be the best, maybe, the cost is the highest
or that will cause some other problems. But it caters for the overall tendency for long-run. Some
of current systems with low cost and high efficiency though, might depart from the overall
tendency of the world development from long-run point. Thus, sustainable transport problem
should be considered and designed under the background of global focus on resources and energy
safety and environment, and global transformation toward low-carbon society and economy. With
this overall background, though the tendency and perception of sustainable mobility might be
different with the current, the overall direction is the same. Todays ideas and policies should link
up to the future to avoid waste. We should not completely copy the methods used in developed
countries to solve transport problems. The developed countries might have changed before we
completely understand their old ways. The transportation in developed countries is also
unsustainable, and needs to transform to low-carbon system. There is no need for us to copy
developed countries. We should look forward to the future and make some leap-forward
development.
We should make some looking-forward thinking. In this report, is it possible to add a chapter
or a section on this? Some groundwork, some looking-forward and comprehensive research based
on 6 disciplines research. The transforming path and detail measures are not clear though, some of
the guiding principles are obvious. Those directional principles should guide our short-term
researches. We need to make some groping thinking and research to upgrade this report.

Hao Jiming (Professor of Department of Environment Engineering,

Tsinghua University, members of China Academy of Engineering)
This subject that the team researched is a strategic, comprehensive and challenging thing. Overall,
transport is related to development of social and economic; strategic requirements, regardless of
current or future transport problems has always been a bottleneck; comprehensiveness, solution to
the transport problem or the sustainable transport problem involves human, social, law and order.
Tsinghua do things just right for this subject of a comprehensive study; challenge, what kind of
system is the sustainable system? It should be said that no precise answer; it may be only a general
direction.

At the appropriate time scale and span, thinking from the

challenges, status and response
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I contacted the transport issue is from environmental point of view, the other less. I will give you
some recommendations to do this research: sustainable development is always considered from
the challenges, the status and the response; from the three aspects you could get the important
problem to solve of sustainable transport. It becomes more difficult because of the time span and
scale: if the time span is too narrow, it has not been done, but it has been past; vice versa.
Therefore, the time scale is very important; the challenges, the status and the response are solved
at the appropriate span and scale.

Balanced demand and supply in the safe, fast, efficient and clean
request
If we focus on specific issues, it will be lost overall, strategic positioning research. From the view
of challenges and pressures, it is the greatest challenge to combine the transport demand and
supply. Transport demand increases rapidly, but the transport supply consummated is restricted. Of
course, scientific and technological progress to solve the transport demand also provided support.
In the face of progress and problems, how to match the ratio of transport demand and transport
admeasure? Transport demand relates to urban planning, land use; the supply is also a plan how to
solve the problem, so how to balance between them. The supply of transport means connect with
the idea of the humanities; idea also shows the way travel. Always on the way from imbalance
toward balance, balance and imbalance, it always in such a process needs to address the problem.
To solve the demand, the first place is security; the second is fast and convenience; the third is
efficient. Efficiency, it is not only the high efficiency of energy efficiency, but also the use of road
space; how many car though the road in one hour. In addition, clean, clean is also very important.
If at the request of the security, fast, efficiency and clean we balance demand and supply, which
should be more sustainable. It is not things of one group; it is the things of the several groups.
Transport Supply relates to the way of travel and policies. For example the Public Transport
Priority, what is Public Priority? In China Public Priority what is the status of rail transit; the track
suburban railway transport, railway transport is about to withdraw from the city, but also the
MTR, Japan's construction of the railway transport has also played an important role. The way of
supply involves technology and combination of a variety of ways.

It is necessary to consider the flow of people, we should also

consider the logistics
We should not only consider the transport needs of people, we should also consider the logistics.
In the development of a group of city, logistics is even more important. At that time, when we do
the moving out Capital Steel, that is, taking into account the needs of the logistics involved in
Capital Steel proportion to the number, we consider that it take into account the flow of people
and logistics, which is on the overall study's recommendations.

Evironmental studies to be more macro and the introduction of

full life-cycle analysis
I worked on the environment engineering, I have two suggestions: the work we do on the whole I
feel it should be said that many things have been done, but the view is not comprehensive, so there

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must be more macro point of the study. The first is the life-cycle approach to the introduction of
environmental impact, the U.S. National Research Center is done in accordance with the life
cycle; the life-cycle analysis can be introduced into the match with the energy of the extent. The
second, from the environmental impact of cities is also not rigidly adhere to, the impact of
regional, hemispheric and global impact; the environmental problems is the global problem; if we
just consider the city, that is on one hand is sustainable, on the other hand is not sustainable. City
group combined the regional; Why is hemispheric? Now Europe, the United States and our
neighbour Japan, they are all in the hemisphere to promote the cause serious pollution, from Asia
to the Americas, Europe and North America to continue the cycle of ozone pollution is the most
important; this related to the transport and the emissions.
This is the most crucial impact on health. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the
U.S. auto industry had arguments for a very long time. Finally the health effects institute is
founded, which research the impacts of vehicle on human health. Vehicle emissions on human
health effects are in many aspects; different types of energy on human health effects are different.
So this is all in environment.

In a typical case study to do some major cities

From the operational point of view, the case study is very necessary. As what Mr. Wu said, the city
has its own characteristics; we must catch the city to study, which is the biggest and the most
influential cities in China and that is very necessary. Recently I have worked on the Beijing
Olympic air quality; it cant reach the standards. So it relates to the transport. So, cases study is
very important. If we can work out some big cities like Beijing, there is still a reference and
demonstration.

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Milestones of SUMO Project

World widely, urban mobility has become an important factor influencing economic growth and
peoples life, and is facing severe challenges unprecedentedly: inherent problems such as traffic
congestion, environment pollution and traffic accident become more and more urgent, and new
problems emerges continuously. Fox example, the acceleration of urbanization especially in
developing countries, worries of energy security with the tension of oil supply and peaking up of
oil price, the requirement of CO2 reduction brought by global climate change. In a summary, the
urgency and pressing of these problems have made it necessary for the whole world to re-examine
the problem of how to implement urban sustainable mobility.
As the biggest developing countries in the world, China is experiencing a special period of
dynamically developing with simultaneously industrialization, urbanization and motorization
process, and the development of urban mobility in China has specific characteristics such as in
huge scale, intensively and changeably. From the point of view of academic research, it seems the
problems and challenges of realizing urban sustainable mobility are embodied in China
concentrated, typically and with high intensity. Therefore, to research the intrinsic principal and
mechanism of realizing urban sustainable mobility in China has not only important theoretical and
practical meaning to China, but also to the rest of the world, especially for other developing
countries.
Based on the background introduced above, suggested and supported by Prof. Ni Weidou,
Prof. Wu Liangyong from Tsinghua University, Mr. John Manzoni and Gary Dirkes from
BP Tsinghua University organized six disciplines together to launch Tsinghua-BP Urban
Sustainable Mobility (SUMO) Project at 1st June, 2005. SUMO is a difficult but interesting
journey of research, and should be recognized as a paradigm of cross-discipline research:
researchers from disciplines of urban planning, transportation, energy, environment, vehicle
technology and public policy come together under the flag of SUMO, who are usually very hard to
work together because of the physical separation of different disciplines. During the research
process, they overcame the difficulties and puzzles of having no common language at all in the
very beginning, and then recognized the limitation and deficiency of individual intrinsic
knowledge system, enjoyed observing and understanding the world with new angle of view and
new concept which was gained by leaning and understanding the concept, theory and
methodology of other disciplines step by step. Now the project team begins to review the
problems of urban mobility and the relationship of different disciplines with a multi-dimensional,
related and systematic angle of view, and complement and deepen the understanding of the
intrinsic.
SUMO is designed as a two phase project: phase I project started at June 1 st 2005 and ended
in March 2006. The main research content is to analyze the problem, challenge and realization of
urban sustainable mobility based on the investigation of ten cities. And the main outcome is the
book China Urban Sustainable Mobility: problem, challenge and realization; phase II project
started in April 4th 2006 and ended in June 2008. The main research content is to build a crossdisciplinary theory system of SUMO. And the main outcome is a theory book, a policy suggestion

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and two parallel demo projects.

As a whole, SUMO has processed for three years and achieved good outcomes. It is not only
because of the efforts of the whole project team, but also the actively participant and strong
support of a lot of experts, officials, enterprises from China and oversea, especially the support by
BP both in financing and intelligence. Following is the key events of SUMO reviewed and
recorded in the form of project milestones.

1.Phase I of SUMO

Kick-off meeting of Phase I project June 1st, 2005

Commission of project coordinator from BP (Mr. Xu Zebin) June, 2005
Sign the contract with BP for funding Phase I project July 4th, 2005
Investigate 10 typical cities in China from May, 2005 to September 29th, 2005
Cities name: Dalian, Taiyuan, Guangzhou, Langfang, Jinan, Ningbo, Chongqing, Beijing,
Shanghai, Wuhan
Content Literature review and fundamental research in May, 2005, plenary on-site
investigation of the former 7 cities from August to September and personal
investigation of the rest 3 cities to complement the whole investigation
Main participants: The whole project team, Prof. Pan Kexi from Fudan University of
Shanghai, and Bai Quan from Energy Research Institute (ERI) of National
Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)
Final version of six separated reports from six disciplines October 5 th, 2005
Draft of Phase I report November 1st, 2005
Appraisal meeting of Phase I report November 7th - 8th, 2005
Location: Tsinghua-BP Clean Energy Research & Education Center
Content: The project team presents the Phase I report and listen to the recommendations
from foreign experts
Main participants: Prof. Lu Huapu, Prof. Mao Qizhi, Prof. Li Zheng, Prof. Shuai Shijin,
Prof. Wang Jianxin, Prof. He Kebin and Prof. Zhang Xiliang from SUMO project
team, Mr. Eggar Duncan and Xu Zebin from BP, Prof Nilay Shah.from Imperial
College of UK, Prof. Dan Sperling from UC Davis
Workshop of China Urban Sustainable Mobility - March 21st, 2006
Location: Tsinghua-BP Clean Energy Research & Education Center
Content: The project team present Phase I report and listen to the recommendations from
representatives of Central Government, Municipal Government of 10 cities and
other institutes to modify and perfect the report
Main participants: The project team, Mr. Eggar Duncan and Xu Zebin, Prof. Pan Kexi,
representatives from 10 cities, Dept of Environment and Resource of NDRC,
Institute of Comprehensive Transportation (ICT), ERI, Ministry of Housing and
Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD), Energy Foundation (EF) of USA, China
Academy of Transportation Science (CATS)

2. Phase II of SUMO
Kick-off meeting of Phase II project- April, 2006
Sign the contract with BP for funding Phase II project June 27th, 2006
Round-table meeting of China Urban Sustainable Mobility July 11th, 2006

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Location: Tsinghua-BP Clean Energy Research & Education Center

Content: The project team present the research framework of SUMO Phase II and
communicate with experts from China and oversea
Main participants: The project team, Mr. Eggar Duncan and Xu Zebin, Dept of
Comprehensive Transportation of NDRC, EF, CATS, CAI-Asia
Commission of project manager and academic assistants from Tsinghua UniversityAugust, 2006
Project manager: Ma Linwei; Academic assistant: Wang Jifeng, Wang Jingwen
Plenary meeting of the project team- December 8th, 2006
Location: Tsinghua-BP Clean Energy Research & Education Center
Main participants: The project team, Mr. Eggar Duncan and Xu Zebin
First Steering Committee meeting February 3rd, 2007
Location: Tsinghua-BP Clean Energy Research & Education Center
Content: Set up the Steering Committee of SUMO, report the research progress
and listen to their recommendations
Main participants: The project team, Mr. Eggar Duncan and Xu Zebin, all
members of the Steering Committee including three academicians - Prof. Wu
Liangyong, Prof. Ni Weidou and Prof. Hao Jiming from Tsinghua University,
Vice President of Tsinghua University Prof. He Jiankun, General Director of
Dept of Comprehensive Transportation of NDRC Mr. Wang Qingyun, Vice
President of BP China Mr. Zhang Jianning, Chief Economist of BP Asia - Ms.
Wang Tao. According to the recommendations by the Steering Committee, the
project team invited Prof. Zhu Wenjun from Dept of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua
University, to join SUMO to add the new content of underground space research
Start-up of Shanghai DME bus demo project March, 2007
On-site investigation of Xinxiang, Henan Province May 28th 30th, 2007
The investigation gets strong support and assistant from Municipal Government
and Transportation Bureau of Xinxiang
Holding the 6th conference of 7+1 Forum of Transportation March 31st, 2007
Location: Beijing Friendship Hotel
Brief introduction of 7+1 Forum of Transportation: The forum is founded by 7
government officials: Shi Dinghuan, Wang Qingyun, Zhao Wenzhi, Nin Bing, Yu
Jingyuan, Duan Liren, Zhang Guowu and 1 professor: Prof. Li Xuewei. And they
compose the Forum Committee. The main purpose of the forum is to discuss hot
issues of transportation both theoretically and practically based on theory and
methodology of system engineering, and promote exchange, communication and
collaboration. The forum is approved by Systems Engineering Society of China,
led by NDRC, Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Ministry of
Transportation (MOT) and Beijing Transportation Committee, and supported by
famous enterprises in transportation area. Before it, the forum has successfully
held 5 meetings
Content: Invited by the 7+1 Forum Committee, the project team hosts the
meeting with Urban Sustainable Mobility as the theme, and present the research
progress and outcome of SUMO

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Main participants: 8 members of the Forum Committee, 2 academicians Prof.

Wu Liangyong and Zhou Ganzhi, 4 professors from SUMO project team Prof.
Lu Huapu, Prof. Mao Qizhi, Prof. Li Zheng, Prof. He Kebin, who present their
research outcome in the meeting, Mr. Xu Zebin from BP, Mr. Craig Wright from
WSP. Together with other representatives from traffic authorities of cities,
academia and business, the participants are more than 50 people totally and
represent most of the points of view in the field of urban mobility in China
Project is registered as government project by NDRC May 18th, 2007
Publish of Phase I report- July, 2007
Plenary meeting of the project team July 25th, 2007 and November 21st, 2007
Location: Tsinghua-BP Clean Energy Research & Education Center
Main participants: The project team, Mr. Eggar Duncan and Xu Zebin
Replacement of project coordinator from BP March 21st, 2008
Mr. Xu Zebin left the position for the reason of work rearrangement, and Mr.
Albert Xu from BP took this position. Mr. Xu Zebin had contributed so much in
promoting the smooth progress of the project, and was appreciated by the whole
project team
Second Steering Committee meeting, also the appraisal meeting of Phase II theory
book April 18th, 2008
Location: Tsinghua-BP Clean Energy Research & Education Center
Content: The project teams present the draft of the theory book of SUMO Phase
II to Steering Committee and listen to their recommendations on how to modify
and perfect the book
Main participants: The project team, Mr. Eggar Duncan and Albert Xu, 3
members of Steering Committee: Prof. He Jiankun Deputy Director of the
University Council of Tsinghua, Mr. Wang Qingyun General Director of Dept
of Comprehensive Transportation of NDRC, Prof. Wu Liangyong not presented
but sent his comments which was announced by Prof. Mao Qizhi

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